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Books  by 
Rt.  Rev.  ETHELBERT  TALBOT 

A  Bishop  Among  His  Flock.    Portrait,    net  $1.00 
My  People  of  the  Plains.     Ill'd.     .     .    net    1.75 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK 


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BY 
THE  RT.  REV.  ETHELBERT  TALBOT,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

BISHOP  OP  BETHLEhA,  U.S.A. 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEV/  YORK  AND  LONDON 


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COPYRIGHT.    1914.    BY    HARPER    &   BROTHERS 

PRINTED   IN   THE    UNITED   STATES   OF  AMERICA 
PUBLISHED    FEBRUARY.    1914 


TO  THE  FAITHFUL  LAITY,  MEN  AND  WOMEN, 
OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  BETHLEHEM,  TO  WHOSE 
HEARTS  AND  HOMES  HE  HAS  ALWAYS  BEEN 
MADE  SO  WELCOME,  AND  FOR  WHOSE 
NEVER -FAILING  LOYALTY  AND  GENEROUS 
SUPPORT  HE  IS  MOST  GRATEFUL,  THIS 
BOOK  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 
WITH  THE  AFFECTIONATE  ESTEEM  OF 
THEIR  BISHOP 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PACT 

Preface vii 

I.  Has  God  Spoken? i 

II.  Am  I  Responsible? .  13 

III.  What  Shall  I  Believe? 21 

IV.  What  Does  Christ  Demand? 28 

V.  Christ  and  the  Church 36 

VI.  The  Church  and  the  Ministry      ....  46 

VII.  The  Church  and  the  Sacraments      ...  57 

VIII.  The  Relation  of  the  Bible  to  the  Church  68 

IX.  The  Church  and  Public  Worship      ...  78 

X.  The  Ideal  Layman 90 

XI.  The  Claims  of  the  Ministry  as  a  Vocation  102 

XII.  Religion  and  Business 114 

XIII.  Our  Church  Machinery 126 

XIV.  The  Christian  Year 136 

XV.  Christian  Education 146 

XVI.  Our  Church  Before  and  After  the  Refor- 

mation       158 

XVII.  The  Church  and  Christian  Unity     .    .    .  172 

XVIII.  The  Church  and  Social  Service    ....  184 

XIX.  The  Church's  World-wide  Mission   .    .    .  194 


PREFACE 

The  following  chapters  have  been  written  in 
those  rare  moments  of  leisure  enjoyed  now  and 
then  in  the  busy  life  of  a  bishop.  They  are  sup- 
posed to  be  addressed  to  that  large  family  of 
spiritual  children,  yoimg  and  old,  which  makes 
up  the  household  of  faith  in  his  own  diocese. 

As  the  members  of  his  flock  differ  greatly  in 
spiritual  attainment  and  religious  knowledge, 
so  their  needs  vary  accordingly.  This  diversity 
of  knowledge  and  of  experience  must  also  ac- 
count for  the  wide  range  of  subjects  discussed 
and  the  elementary  method  of  treatment  fre- 
quently employed. 

Many  of  the  subjects  considered  have  been 
suggested  by  the  writer*s  personal  experience, 
and  represent  an  effort  on  his  part  to  meet  real 
problems  brought  home  to  him  as  he  has  gone 
in  and  out  among  his  people.  It  has  been  his 
aim  throughout  to  be  constructive  and  helpful, 

vii 


PREFACE 

and  to  give  his  people  a  reason  for  the  faith  that 
is  in  them. 

In  endeavoring  to  achieve  this  end  he  has 
tried  to  be  fair  and  considerate  toward  all  who 
may  differ  from  the  Church's  teaching  and 
practice. 

While  many  books  have  been  written  cover- 
ing in  the  main  the  same  ground  and  what 
has  been  said  in  the  following  pages  has  often 
been  said  more  felicitously,  yet  the  author  feels 
abimdantly  justified  in  supplying  his  own 
people,  as  coming  from  himself  as  their  bishop, 
with  what  he  feels  every  well-equipped  church- 
man should  possess.  Moreover,  he  is  persuaded 
that  the  great  difficulty  in  this  busy  age  in  which 
we  live  is  to  induce  people  to  read  religious 
books  at  all,  and  he  trusts  that  these  thoughts 
may  appeal  to  many  because  of  the  personal 
relation  existing  between  themselves  and  their 
chief  pastor  He  offers  no  apology,  therefore, 
in  trying  to  meet,  however  inadequately,  what 
he  knows  to  be  a  widely  felt  need  of  those 
committed  to  his  spiritual  care  and  jurisdiction. 
,  He  entertains  the  hope  that  the  views  to 
which  he  has  given  expression  in  this  volume 
may  make  a  slight  contribution  to  three  de- 

viii 


PREFACE 

sirable  ends.     First,  that  they  may  help  some 

of  his  flock  to  love  God  more  earnestly  and  to 

serve  Him  with  greater  devotion ;  secondly,  that 

others  may  be  led  to  be  more  helpful  to  their 

brethren  and  become  active  workers   in   the 

Church;  and,  thirdly,  that  all  may  derive  from 

them  some  measure  of  real  joy  and  happiness  in 

their  religious  life. 

Ethelbert  Talbot. 

Bishop's  House,  South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 


A  BISHOP  AMONG  HIS  FLOCK 


•       »  >  •  • 


A    BISHOP 
/   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 


HAS   GOD   SPOKEN? 

RELIGION  of  some  kind  seems  natural  to 
man.  He  has  been  described  as  a  religious 
animal,  and  it  has  been  said  that  God  never 
made  an  irreligious  htiman  being.  Amid  all 
the  changes  and  varieties  of  human  experience, 
from  the  beginning  religion  has  formed  an  essen- 
tial part  of  man's  life.  At  all  events,  so  far  as 
we  know  the  history  of  the  human  race  no 
nation  or  people  has  ever  existed  without  some 
form  of  religion. 

The  creeds  to  which  the  different  races  of  men 
have  given  their  assent  have  been  various,  and 
have  ranged  from  the  most  groveling  and  de- 


•      •       .  •!      .  •'  * 


""A''*B'I'SH0P    AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

basing  animalism  and  superstition  to  the  more 
spiritual  and  ennobling  conception  of  God  as  the 
Almighty  Father  and  Ruler  of  the  Universe. 
God  has  not  left  Himself  without  witness, 
though  in  times  past  He  suffered  all  nations  to 
walk  in  their  own  ways,  still  as  a  loving  Father 
giving  them  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  sea- 
sons, filling  their  hearts  with  food  and  gladness. 
Moreover,  some  grains  of  truth  have  been  found 
in  all  the  diversified  forms  in  which  man's  re- 
ligious nature  has  expressed  itself,  while  senti- 
ments occasionally  occurring  among  them  have 
been  so  ptu-e  and  elevating  as  to  remind  us  of 
the  Gospel  message. 

To  the  Hebrew  race  was  revealed,  in  the 
gradual  evolution  of  the  ages,  the  first  clear 
conception  of  one  God  as  the  supreme  Maker 
and  Ruler  of  the  world. 

The  high-water  mark  of  revelation  as  to  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  duty  of  man  before  the 
time  of  Christ  was  reached  when  the  Ten 
Commandments  were  given  to  Moses.  We 
cannot  wonder  that  these  sublime  precepts  were 
held  in  highest  esteem  by  the  Jews,  to  whom 
they  were  first  given,  for  during  the  more  than 
two  thousand  years  since  they  have  been  known 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

they  have  held  their  place  in  the  realm  of  re- 
ligion and  ethics.  Indeed,  it  is  not  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  this  code  of  morality  as  revealed 
to  Moses  has  steadily  grown  in  the  estimation  of 
mankind  as  embodying  the  highest  ideal  of  duty 
known  before  the  advent  of  Christ.  As  com- 
pared with  the  teaching  of  all  the  great  reli- 
gious philosophers  in  the  pagan  world,  it  stands 
mountain-high  above  them  in  its  commanding 
and  comprehensive  appeal.  But  God  has  not 
only  spoken  in  these  Ten  Commandments  of  the 
moral  law,  but  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners  has  He  spoken  in  times  past  through 
His  prophets. 

As  we  turn  back  the  pages  of  history  we  see 
how  particular  nations  and  people  seem  to 
possess  special  gifts.  Rome  had  a  genius  for 
law  and  organization,  as  Greece  had  for  arts 
and  letters.  So,  too,  the  Hebrew  people  had  a 
special  genius  for  religion.  In  an  unusual  and 
noteworthy  sense  religion  was  their  life.  It 
molded  their  national  constitution.  It  directed 
their  national  policy.  It  created  their  national 
literature.  The  Hebrews  have  been  the  great 
religious  teachers  of  the  world.  We  who  have 
inherited  so  much  from  them  are  likely  to  forget 

3 


A   BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

how  wholly  unique  their  religion  was  when  it 
first  made  its  appearance  in  the  world.  The  re- 
ligions of  Greece  and  Rome,  of  Babylon  and 
Egypt,  have  perished,  and  of  the  great  religions 
which  still  live  two — namely,  Christianity  and 
Mohammedanism — have  their  roots  in  Judaism. 
The  Hebrews,  indeed,  stand  out  pre-eminently 
as  selected  in  order  to  give  religion  to  the  world. 

Moreover,  it  is  in  the  Bible  that  the  religion 
of  the  Hebrews  finds  its  highest  and  noblest 
expression.  Through  the  medium  of  their 
words  the  Biblical  writers  of  the  Old  Testament 
enable  us  to  see  God  as  they  saw  Him  and  to 
share  that  communion  with  Him  which  in- 
spired their  writings.  This  is  simply  a  state- 
ment of  historical  fact. 

The  Bible  is  God's  Book  because  it  is,  in  a 
unique  and  universal  sense,  man's  Book.  It  is 
the  record  of,  and  the  vehicle  for  transmitting 
a  great  human  experience,  an  experience  of  God, 
of  human  need,  and  of  God's  response  to  that 
need.  This  is  the  real  secret  of  the  religious 
power  of  the  Old  Testament.  To  teach  religion, 
as  Carlyle  said,  the  first  thing  is  to  find  a  man 
who  has  religion.  For  most  men,  their  religion 
is  vitalized  and  sustained  by  their  personal  re- 

4 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

lation  with  religious  men.  It  is  only  when  we 
come  into  contact  with  men  whose  lives  are 
guided  and  controlled  by  the  hand  of  God  and 
who  see  the  power  of  the  faith  which  makes  them 
strong  that  we  ourselves  become  sure  of  God 
and  of  His  love.  Soul  is  kindled  only  by  soul. 
The  Bible  teaches  religion,  leads  men  to  God, 
because  its  writers  were  men  who  had  religion. 
The  more  we  emphasize  their  real  humanity 
the  greater  will  be  the  power  of  their  appeal. 
God  has  spoken  to  us  all  through  the  historyof 
the  world,  through  men,  and  not  through  angels. 
As  these  men  write  they  pour  out  the  secrets 
of  their  hearts  and  admit  us  to  the  innermost 
chambers  of  their  lives,  and  as  we  read  their 
story  our  hearts  bum  within  us.  We  are  fired 
with  their  enthusiasm.  Their  faith  in  God 
evokes  a  like  faith  in  us. 

This  is  why  men  have  always  read  and  loved 
the  Bible,  not  because  they  regarded  it  as  a 
text-book  of  history,  or  of  natiu-al  science,  or  as 
a  code  of  ethics,  or  as  a  compendium  of  theo- 
logical doctrines.  It  was  once  believed  to  be 
all  this  wrongly,  but  its  real  value  even  then,  as 
now,  lay  not  in  this,  but  in  the  irresistible  appeal 
of  the  writers  to  the  heart  and  conscience  and  in 

5 


A   BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

the  power  of  their  faith  in  God  to  uplift  men's 
thoughts  and  words  and  deeds  always  and 
everywhere.  Men  have  read  the  Bible  because 
in  it  they  have  found  God  speaking  to  their 
hearts  through  the  hearts  of  their  fellow-men. 
The  value  of  the  various  books  for  history,  for 
ethics,  and  for  theology  must  be  determined  by 
applying  to  them  the  same  principle  of  criticism 
which  we  should  apply  to  any  other  book  for  the 
same  purpose.  But  the  chief  religious  value  of 
the  Bible  depends  upon  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
record,  a  living  and  a  vitalizing  record,  of  re- 
ligious experience  which  must  be  of  worth 
while  human  nature  lasts.  So  much  for  the 
Old  Testament.  As  God  has  spoken  in  it  to  us 
through  men,  so  in  a  very  real  sense  has  God 
always  spoken  to  us  through  men,  not  only  in 
the  Old  Testament,  but  in  himian  history,  out- 
side of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  He  speaks  to  us 
in  literature,  in  Shakespeare,  in  Milton,  in 
Browning,  in  Tennyson.  He  is  constantly  ap- 
pealing to  us  whenever  and  wherever  He  in- 
spires the  genius  of  man  to  interpret  the  human 
heart  and  enkindle  the  emotions  to  a  higher  and 
nobler  effort. 
When  we  come  to  the  New  Testament  we 
6 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

find  that  God  speaks  to  man  through  His  only- 
begotten  and  eternal  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  "God, 
who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners, 
spoke  in  times  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us 
by  his  son,  whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all 
things,  by  whom  also  he  made  the  world." 
"  When  the  fullness  of  time  was  come  God  sent 
forth  his  son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under 
the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  tmder  the 
law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons." 
By  this  expression,  *'the  fullness  of  time," 
we  mean  that  oiu*  Lord's  arrival  on  the  scene 
of  human  history  took  place  when  a  course  of 
preparation,  conducted  through  previous  ages, 
was  complete.  But  Christ  was  not  the  product 
of  His  own  or  any  preceding  age.  What  is  true 
of  great  men,  who  are  only  men,  is  not  true  of 
Him.  They  receive  much  from  the  age  in  which 
they  live.  They  embody  and  reflect  its  spirit. 
With  Him  this  was  in  no  sense  true.  He  owed 
nothing  to  the  time  or  to  the  country  which 
witnessed  His  coming.  He  had  no  contact 
with  the  world  of  Greek  thought  and  Roman 
politics  and  government.  He  borrowed  rab- 
binical language  enough  to  make  Himself  intel- 

7 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

ligible,  but  no  Rabbi  could  have  said,  or  could 
have  omitted  to  say,  what  He  did.  The  pre- 
ceding ages  only  prepared  His  way  before  Him 
by  forming  the  circumstances,  the  convictions, 
and  the  moral  experience  of  the  world.  At  last 
all  things  were  ready,  and  the  hour  had  struck, 
and  that  hour  was  the  fullness  of  time. 

The  facts  of  the  birth,  the  life,  and  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Christ  have  been  made  familiar  to  the 
world  for  many  generations.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  no  life  has  ever  been  passed  upon  earth 
which  has  been  subjected  to  such  scrutiny  and 
has  challenged  such  critical  examination  and 
analysis  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  Dtuing  the 
three  short  years  of  His  public  ministry  He  so 
spake,  and  so  acted,  and  so  lived  that  His  in- 
fluence has  become  world-wide.  The  charm  of 
His  personality  and  the  potency  of  His  message 
have  revolutionized  men  and  nations.  It  is 
also  an  impressive  fact  that,  while  with  other 
great  characters  in  human  history  their  fame 
has  gradually  diminished  with  the  passing 
years,  in  the  case  of  Jesus  the  splendor  of  His 
name  and  the  glory  of  His  achievements  have 
gathered  additional  power  as  time  has  gone  on. 
Human  interest  in  the  Christ  has  grown  with 

8 


A    BISHOP    AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

the  centuries,  and  the  depth  of  His  character 
and  the  many-sided  and  inexhaustible  wealth  of 
His  nature  have  invested  Him  with  all  that 
appeals  most  strongly  to  the  human  heart. 

Bom  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  the  adopted 
son  of  a  carpenter  and  the  child  of  a  humble 
peasant  maiden,  destitute  of  social  and  political 
influence,  without  any  of  the  culture  which 
comes  from  the  schools,  we  find  Him  to-day 
commanding  the  homage  and  reverence  and 
unboimded  affection  of  the  world. 

His  life,  looked  at  however  closely,  breathes 
sinlessness,  freedom,  peace.  While  the  most 
humble  of  men,  yet  His  self-assertion  knows  no 
limit.  He  never  confesses  to  any  sin,  however 
slight.  He  never  asks  for  pardon  or  forgive- 
ness. He  rebukes  certain  sins  with  unsparing 
severity,  while  yet  He  challenges  the  world  to 
convict  Him  of  one  single  sin.  He  bids  men 
come  to  Him,  learn  of  Him,  follow  Him.  He 
declares  that  He  and  His  Father  are  one.  Nay, 
He  goes  further  and  says  that  they  who  have 
seen  Him  have  seen  the  Father.  The  as- 
tounding part  of  all  is  that  such  is  the  perfect 
consistency  of  His  life  that  the  world  has  not 
resented  or  denied  these  claims  as  if  they  were 

9 


A    BISHOP  AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

unwaxrantable.  There  is  that  in  Him  which 
justifies  it.  His  absolute  moral  purity  is 
strictly  in  harmony  with  it,  and  separates  Him 
from  all  men  as  unique. 

Napoleon  was  right  when  he  said,  "Can  you 
tell  me  who  Jesus  Christ  was?"  The  question 
was  declined,  and  Bonaparte  proceeded:  **Well, 
then,  I  will  tell  you.  Alexander,  Caesar,  Charle- 
magne, and  I  myself  have  founded  great  em- 
pires; but  upon  what  did  these  great  creations 
of  our  genius  depend?  Upon  force.  Jesus 
alone  foimded  His  empire  upon  love,  and  to 
this  very  day  millions  would  die  for  Him.  I 
think  I  understand  something  of  human  nature, 
and  I  tell  you  all  these  were  men,  and  I  am  a 
man;  none  else  is  like  Him;  Jesus  Christ  was 
more  than  man.  I  have  inspired  multitudes 
with  such  an  enthusiastic  devotion  that  they 
would  have  died  for  me;  but  to  do  this  it  was 
necessary  that  I  should  be  visibly  present,  with 
the  electric  influence  of  my  looks,  of  my  words, 
of  my  voice.  When  I  saw  men  and  spoke  to 
them  I  lighted  up  the  flame  of  self-devotion  in 
their  hearts.  Christ  alone  has  succeeded  in  so 
raising  the  mind  of  man  toward  the  unseen  that 
it  becomes  insensible  to  the  barriers  of  time  and 

10 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

space.  Wonderful!  In  defiance  of  time  and 
space  the  soul  of  man,  with  all  its  powers  and 
faculties,  becomes  an  annexation  to  the  empire 
of  Christ.  All  who  sincerely  believe  in  Him 
experience  that  remarkable,  supernatural  love 
toward  Him.  This  phenomenon  is  imaccount- 
able.  It  is  altogether  beyond  the  scope  of  man's 
creative  powers.  This  it  is  which  strikes  me 
most.  I  have  often  thought  of  it.  This  it  is 
which  proves  to  me  quite  convincingly  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Renan  was  right  when  he  said:  "Repose  now 
in  Thy  glory,  noble  Fotmder.  Thy  work  is 
completed.  Thy  divinity  is  established.  Fear 
no  more  to  see  the  edifice  of  Thy  efforts  cnmible 
through  any  flaw.  Henceforth,  beyond  the 
reach  of  frailty.  Thou  shalt  be  present  from  the 
height  of  Thy  divine  peace,  in  the  infinite  con- 
sequences of  Thy  acts.  At  the  price  of  a  few 
hours  of  suffering,  which  has  not  even  touched 
Thy  great  soul,  Thou  hast  purchased  the  most 
complete  immortality.  For  thousands  of  years 
the  world  will  extol  Thee.  A  thousand  times 
more  living,  a  thousand  times  more  beloved 
since  Thy  death  than  during  the  days  of  Thy 
pilgrimage  here  below,  Thou  wilt  become  to  such 

II 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

a  degree  the  comer-stone  of  humanity  that  to 
tear  Thy  name  from  this  world  would  be  to 
shake  it  from  its  foundations.  Between  Thee 
and  God  men  will  no  longer  distinguish.  Com- 
plete conqueror  of  death,  take  possession  of 
Thy  kingdom,  whither  by  the  royal  road  Thou 
hast  traced  ages  of  adorers  will  follow  Thee." 
Thus  has  God  spoken  to  us,  in  and  through 
the  life,  the  words,  and  the  victorious  death  of 
Him  whose  name  is  above  every  name. 


II 

AM   I   RESPONSIBLE? 

THE  question  of  conduct  is  largely,  if  not 
entirely,  involved  in  that  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility. We  find  ourselves  here  in  this 
present  world  without  having  been  consulted. 
We  cannot  choose  our  parents,  our  relatives,  the 
place  of  our  birth,  or  the  environment  of  our 
infancy,  childhood,  and  youth.  All  these  mat- 
ters, which  have  so  vital  a  bearing  on  the  de- 
velopment of  our  character,  are  determined 
absolutely  without  our  consent. 

When  we  reach  the  age  of  discretion  and  must 
decide  for  ourselves  what  is  right  and  what  is 
wrong  we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  some 
community  where  certain  moral  and  social 
ideas  prevail.  What  those  ideas  are  depends 
entirely  upon  the  particular  part  of  this  great 
planet  in  which  our  lot  is  cast.  What  is  thought 
right  in  one  section  of  the  world — say,  in  the 

13 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

jungles  of  Africa — ^may  be  condemned  as  utter- 
ly wrong  in  America.  Left  to  themselves  and 
without  any  external  authority,  men  and  women 
have  no  universal  code  of  honor,  morality,  or 
conduct  to  govern  their  daily  lives.  It  is  true 
that  for  its  own  protection,  and  inspired  by  the 
law  of  self-defense,  mankind  ever3rwhere,  and 
under  all  environments,  gradually  evolves  cer- 
tain laws  as  to  bodily  injury,  or  human  life,  or 
property.  But  these  laws  are  founded  entirely 
upon  utilitarian  reasons,  and  have  for  their 
object  the  safety  of  the  individual. 

Leaving  all  religion  out  of  the  question,  why 
is  it  wrong  for  me  to  kill  my  neighbor,  or  to 
steal  his  goods,  or  to  injiu-e  his  reputation? 

Only'because  the  instinct  of  self-preservation, 
innate  in  human  nature,  has  created  a  custom 
or  a  law  forbidding  these  things.  Under  our 
hypothesis  they  are  not  wrong  because  of  any 
higher  law  which  makes  one  responsible  here  or 
hereafter.  All  the  penalties  for  the  violation  of 
law  and  all  the  rewards  of  obedience  to  such 
law  are  applied  and  meted  out  here  and  now 
in  this  present  world. 

Under  the  supposition  we  are  considering 
there  is  no  other  world  to  which  men  are 

14 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

destined  where  they  are  held  responsible. 
Indeed,  responsibility  implies  a  person  or  a 
power  to  whom  we  are  responsible.  Even  in 
matters  of  every-day  concern  the  law  of  re- 
sponsibility is  more  or  less  operative.  A  child 
is  responsible  to  his  parents.  Servants  are 
responsible  to  their  masters.  A  clerk  is  re- 
sponsible to  his  employer.  A  pupil  is  respon- 
sible to  his  teacher.  Soldiers  are  responsible  to 
their  commanding  officers.  In  a  broader  sense, 
a  business  is  responsible  to  the  commimity  and 
the  state.  All  himian  society  is  based  on  and 
kept  together  by  this  law  of  responsibility. 
But  does  not  our  responsibility  as  himian  be- 
ings end  here  and  now  with  this  life? 

It  is  at  least  significant  that  in  almost  every 
age  and  nation,  quite  apart  from  Christianity, 
men  have  believed  that  they  will  be  held  re- 
sponsible after  death  for  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body.  This  belief  in  a  time  and  place  of  future 
retribution  has  formed  an  important  tenet  in 
the  creeds  of  all  the  great  pagan  religions. 
Indeed,  the  more  advanced  in  moral  and  in- 
tellectual culture  these  nations  of  the  past  have 
been,  the  more  completely  has  this  belief 
dominated  and  influenced  their  lives.     It  is 

15 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  strong  and  over- 
mastering convictions  of  such  great  leaders  of 
thought  as  Socrates,  Plato,  Seneca,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  and  Aristotle,  all  of  whom  lived  before 
the  Christian  era,  as  examples  of  the  truth  of 
this  statement. 

In  view  of  the  all  but  universal  prevalence  of 
this  feeling  of  responsibility  to  some  higher 
power,  we  might  call  it  instinctive  in  human 
nature.  When  Christ  came  and  preached  to 
men  everywhere  that  their  lives  would  be  re- 
viewed and  passed  upon  by  a  just  and  infallible 
Judge  His  appeal  met  a  response  in  their  hearts. 
The  Gospel  message  was  easily  grafted  upon 
the  nature  of  man,  for  he  had  been  prepared  for 
it  by  his  own  conscience  and  by  the  light  of  his 
own  experience. 

Long  before  Saint  Paul  told  the  Roman 
Christians  that  we  should  all  stand  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  Christ  men  had  been  con- 
vinced that  they  were  responsible  to  some  un- 
known god  or  mysterious  power.  When  the 
Apostle  declared  that  every  one  of  us  should 
give  an  account  of  himself  to  God  he  was  but 
making  clear  in  the  light  of  the  authority  and 
power  of  the  risen  Christ  what  men  had  al- 

i6 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ways  and  with  more  or  less  emphasis  be- 
lieved. 

Speaking  broadly,  men  may  be  divided  into 
two  classes:  those  who  realize  that  they  are 
responsible  beings  and  those  who  do  not. 
While  we  may  admit  that  all  men  theoretically 
believe  that  they  are  responsible,  it  is  quite 
another  thing  to  realize  that  responsibility. 
To  Hve  as  men  who  are  some  day  to  render  an 
account  to  a  merciful  but  all-searching  God, 
to  whom  all  hearts  are  open,  all  desires  known, 
and  from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid,  this  is  indeed 
to  impart  to  hirnian  life  a  dignity  and  power 
which  otherwise  it  could  not  possess. 

So  far  as  we  know,  man  is  the  only  creature 
capable  of  such  responsibility.  The  lower 
animals  have  their  day,  and  bow  their  heads 
and  pass  away.  But  *'Man!  what  a  piece  of 
work  is  a  man!  How  noble  in  reason!  How 
infinite  in  faculties !  In  form  and  moving,  how 
express  and  admirable !  In  action,  how  like  an 
angel!    In  apprehension,  how  like  a  god!" 

To  man  alone  is  given  the  high  prerogative 
of  knowing  God's  will,  and,  knowing,  to  yield  a 
glad  obedience  to  that  will.  If  a  man  is  re- 
sponsible to  a  personal  God,  who  has  the  right 

2  17 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

and  power  to  review  his  life  and  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  it,  then  our  days  spent  here  on  earth 
are  invested  with  a  profound  moral  significance. 
Then  what  we  believe  or  fail  to  believe,  what 
we  do  or  refrain  from  doing,  our  relation  to  God 
and  our  fellow-man,  the  use  we  are  making  of 
our  time  and  our  opportunities — all  these  con- 
siderations enter  into  the  problem  and  tell  upon 
the  final  issue. 

As  in  all  the  relations  of  human  life,  he  is  the 
noblest  man  who  realizes  his  responsibility  to 
his  country,  to  his  age,  and  to  his  fellow- 
man,  so  in  our  relations  to  the  great  Judge  of 
all  men  he  alone  is  wise  who  now  sits  in  judg- 
ment upon  himself  that  he  may  not  be  judged 
of  the  Lord  hereafter. 

Perhaps  the  most  fundamental  difference 
between  man  and  man  is  that  which  divides 
the  man  who  does  in  his  secret  heart  believe 
that  he  is  responsible  and  has  an  account  to  give 
from  the  man  who  has  no  such  inspiring  mo- 
tive. With  the  one  man  there  is  the  present 
inspiration  of  almost  incalculable  power,  enter- 
ing into  the  recesses  and  secrets  of  his  life;  he 
is  constantly  asking  himself,  How  will  this  look 
at  the  day  of  judgment?    What  is  the  Eternal 

i8 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Judge  thinking  of  it  now?  Everywhere  in  the 
New  Testament  this  belief  in  a  man's  respon- 
sibility meets  us;  not  an  abstract  responsi- 
bility to  some  vague  and  unknown  power,  but 
the  clear  and  certain  fact  that  we  shall  have  to 
account,  each  one  of  us,  one  day,  to  a  living 
Judge.  When  this  conviction  is  wanting,  how 
enormous  is  the  difference  in  the  whole  range 
of  thought  and  action!  If  a  man  has  no 
account  to  give,  no  wrong  that  he  does  has  last- 
ing consequences.  No  wrong  that  is  done  to 
him,  if  unpunished  by  human  law,  will  ever 
be  punished.  If  a  man  is  not  responsible,  life 
is  a  hideous  chaos,  or  a  game  of  chance  in  which 
the  last  vestiges  of  a  moral  order  are  biuied  out 
of  sight.  Therefore  we  conclude,  both  from  the 
universal  testimony  of  mankind,  apart  from 
Christianity,  and  from  the  strong  reinforcement 
and  clear  revelation  of  the  Gospel  message,  that 
we  are  responsible  for  the  use  we  make  of  our 
time,  our  influence,  our  property,  and  our  op- 
portunity, and  that  every  man  must  give  an 
account  of  himself  to  God. 

It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion,  while  at  a 
gathering  of  friends  in  New  York,  during  a  lull 
in  the  conversation,   some  one  asked  Daniel 

19 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Webster,  the  distinguished  statesman,  what  was 
the  most  important  thought  that  ever  entered 
his  mind.  Reflecting  a  moment,  he  replied, 
*'The  most  solemn  and  important  thought  that 
ever  entered  any  man's  mind  is  that  of  his 
personal  responsibility  to  Almighty  God." 


Ill 

WHAT  SHALL   I   BELIEVE? 

IF  we  are  justified  in  our  conclusion  that  we 
are  responsible  beings  and  that  each  one 
of  us  shall  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God; 
furthermore,  if  we  have  satisfactorily  shown 
that  God  hath  not  left  any  of  us  without  witness 
of  Himself  in  our  hearts,  but  has  from  the 
beginning  spoken  to  men  in  divers  manners, 
and  at  last,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  revealed  His 
nature  and  will  to  us  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
what  follows? 

First  of  all,  the  duty  of  asking  ourselves 
what  use  we  are  making  of  this  knowledge. 
Responsibility  goes  with  knowledge,  and  our 
knowledge  is  the  chief  measure  of  our  respon- 
sibility. '*To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  right 
and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  If  a  clear 
revelation  has  been  vouchsafed  us  we  are  evi- 
dently not  in  the  same  moral  category  as  men 

21 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

to  whom  no  such  light  has  been  given.  We  have 
arrived  unmistakably  at  three  fundamental  con- 
clusions. 

First,  we  know  we  are  living  in  a  world  over 
which  an  intelligent  Ruler  presides;  that  this 
wonderful  cosmos,  with  its  laws  of  order,  sym- 
metry, and  beauty,  is  not  the  result  of  chance, 
of  blind  fate,  or  the  assembling  of  fortuitous 
atoms,  but  bears  evidence  of  creative  power 
and  infinite  wisdom.  As  thoughtful  and  reason- 
able beings  we  are  in  complete  agreement  with 
Lord  Kelvin,  perhaps  the  greatest  scientific 
authority  of  modem  times,  who  says,  at  the 
close  of  a  long  life  devoted  to  the  study  of 
natural  phenomena,  *'0f  this  I  am  absolutely 
convinced,  that  this  universe  has  been  brought 
into  existence  and  is  hourly  sustained  by  the 
infinite  intelligence  of  a  personal  Conductor.'* 

In  the  second  place,  we  cannot  doubt  the 
universal  verdict  of  human  history  and  the 
clear  testimony  of  our  own  consciences  that  this 
being  whom  we  call  God  has  endowed  us  with 
a  sense  of  accountability  to  Him  as  to  the  use 
we  are  making  of  our  faculties,  the  investment 
of  our  time,  and  the  influence  of  our  lives. 

And,   thirdly,   we  are  possessed  of  unmis- 

22 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

takable  evidence  that  this  Ruler  of  the  universe 
is  not  a  far  distant  Creator,  divested  of  all 
human  attributes  and  sympathies  with  men, 
but  is  a  Father  who  cares  for  His  children  and 
has  demonstrated  His  love  for  us  in  countless 
ways  and  in  ages  past,  and  in  these  later  days 
has  crowned  His  work  of  redeeming  love  by  a 
full  and  final  revelation  of  Himself  in  sending 
forth  His  Son  to  make  known  His  will. 

Therefore,  as  He  has  committed  all  judgment 
unto  His  Son,  the  question  which  the  Saviour 
propounded  to  His  Disciples  while  yet  on  earth, 
*'What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  becomes,  after  all, 
the  great  determining  question  of  every  man's 
life.  Who,  then,  was  He,  this  Man  of  men; 
this  Man  who  stood  toward  all  other  men  by  the 
mere  facts  of  His  being  in  so  imique  and  unap- 
proached  relationship?  What  was  it  that  thus 
lifted  Him  above  the  loftiest  heights  of  human 
excellence  and  made  His  life  so  full  of  meaning 
for  the  highest  interests  of  our  race?  Let  Saint 
Paul  give  the  only  answer  that  can  be  given  in 
reason:  **God  sent  forth  from  himself  his  son 
made  of  a  woman."  As  every  human  being  has 
a  human  mother,  these  last  words  would  be 
superfluous  unless  the  Son  of  God  were  in  Him- 

23 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

self,  in  the  roots  and  seat  of  His  being,  of  a 
higher  than  human  nattire,  which  made  His 
having  a  human  mother  of  itself  remarkable. 
God  the  Father  did  not  create  Him,  but,  as  the 
original  word  means,  **He  sent  forth  his  son  out 
of  himself,"  just  as  using  the  same  words.  He 
sent  forth  His  spirit  out  of  Himself,  and  His 
Son  thus  sent  forth,  and  coming  into  our  world, 
was  made  of  a  woman.  That  was  His  link  with 
our  race.  He  had  no  human  father.  We  say- 
in  the  Creed,  "He  was  conceived  of  the  Holy- 
Ghost,  and  bom  of  the  Virgin  Mary."  But  if 
a  human  mother  made  Him  truly  human,  truly 
representative  of  the  race  of  man,  she  could  not 
detract  aught  from  His  eternal  Person.  God's 
only  begotten  Son,  though  in  the  form  of  a  ser- 
vant, is  still  Lord  of  all.  It  is  this  mighty  truth, 
the  incarnation  of  the  eternal  Son,  which  is  the 
keystone  of  the  whole  symmetrical  arch  of  the 
Christian  Gospel.  Remove  that,  and  the  whole 
structure  tumbles  to  the  ground.  Nineteen 
hundred  years  and  more  have  passed  since  it 
happened,  but  in  the  presence  of  such  a  monu- 
mental event  we  think  little  of  the  lapse  of 
years.  The  Son  of  God  still  wears,  and  wdll 
forever  wear,  the  hirnian  nature  which  He  took 

24 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

of  His  virgin  Mother.  Therefore  we  pray  to 
Him,  and  say,  "By  the  mystery  of  Thy  Holy 
Incarnation,  by  Thy  Holy  Nativity,  Good  Lord 
deliver  us.'* 

He  is  a  Christian  who  believes  in  Christ  and 
accepts  Him  as  God  and  Saviour.  The  facts 
of  our  Lord's  human  life  are  a  part  of  the  well- 
authenticated  events  of  history.  There  have 
been  times  in  the  course  of  the  Christian  cen- 
turies when  doubts  have  been  entertained  even 
about  the  reality  of  His  existence,  and  efforts 
have  been  made  to  envelop  His  career  in  the 
mists  of  uncertainty  and  to  relegate  to  the 
realm  of  fiction  the  record  of  His  words  and 
deeds.  But  such  attempts  have  long  since  been 
abandoned  as  unworthy  of  serious  consideration, 
and  no  one  entitled  to  the  respect  of  the  world 
of  scholars  disputes  the  essential  historicity  of 
the  Gospel  message. 

There  are  difficulties  which  confront  the 
Christian  believer  to-day,  and  such  diffictdties 
have  always  existed,  and  shall  probably  never 
cease.  But  they  are  not  difficulties  as  to  the 
main  facts  in  Christ's  life  and  character,  but 
rather  as  to  the  interpretation  of  those  facts. 
There  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  common  faith 

25 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

held  by  the  Christian  community  dating  back 
almost  to  apostolic  days,  known  as  the  Apostles' 
Creed.  In  this  document,  so  familiar,  so  his- 
torical, and  so  venerable,  we  have  a  few  positive 
affirmations  of  simple  fact,  but  no  expression 
of  theological  opinion.  What  has  often  proved 
a  great  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  accepting 
the  religion  of  Christ  have  been  the  himian 
opinions  about  the  facts  or  the  theological  doc- 
trines which  men  have  read,  often  imwarrant- 
ably,  into  the  facts.  It  may  be  refreshing  to  us  as 
we  close  this  chapter  on  **  What  Shall  I  Believe?" 
to  recall  the  words  in  which  so  many  millions 
of  Christian  people  have  voiced  their  belief, 
and  have  triumphantly  and  happily  found  com- 
fort and  peace.  The  Apostles'  Creed  begins 
with  the  word  which  separates  us  from  every 
other  human  being  on  earth — the  word  "I." 
A  man's  belief  is  a  personal  and  sacred  thing. 
No  man  can  believe  for  another.  His  convic- 
tions, if  they  are  to  be  of  any  value,  must  be 
not  only  strong,  but  individual.  The  Creed 
asks  those  who  use  this  brief  but  sufficient  sum- 
mary of  fundamental  verities  to  believe  in  God 
the  Father  Almighty,  in  Jesus  Christ,  His  only 
Son,  our  Lord,  in  the  Holy  Spirit  who  guides 

26 
f 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

and  enlightens  us,  in  the  Holy  Catholic  or 
Universal  Church,  which  is  the  fellowship  or 
communion  of  the  saints,  or  people  of  God,  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  the  life  everlasting. 

If  we  believe  in  God  at  all,  as  revealed  in  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  this  confession  of  our  faith, 
sanctified  by  the  usage  of  so  many  centuries  of 
Christian  devotion,  will  serve  as  a  helpful  guide- 
post  along  the  sometimes  diffictilt  and  vague 
pathway  leading  to  a  clear  and  strong  and 
reasonable  faith. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  inquire  what 
the  great  Master  Himself  asks  of  us,  and  how, 
with  tender  sympathy  for  our  limitations.  He 
helps  us  to  co-operate  with  Himself  in  satisfying 
His  demands. 


IV 

WHAT  DOES  CHRIST  DEMAND? 

IF  Jesus  Christ  be  indeed  the  Eternal  Son  of 
God,  sent  from  the  Father  to  declare  His 
will  to  man  and  to  provide  for  his  spiritual  needs, 
before  we  approach  the  question  as  to  what 
Christ  demands  two  or  three  considerations 
should  be  borne  in  mind. 

In  the  first  place,  we  should  be  fully  prepared 
to  expect  that  any  revelation  coming  from  such 
a  divine  Authority  would  be  adapted  to  man's 
needs,  as  those  needs  are  known  to  One  who,  as 
the  Author  of  our  being,  is  utterly  familiar  with 
our  nature. 

In  the  second  place,  as  we  think  of  God  as 
One  to  whom  all  hearts  are  open,  all  desires 
known,  and  from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid,  the 
contemplation  of  His  nature  should  predispose 
us  in  reason  to  accept  in  advance  whatever  He 
prescribes  as  best  for  our  spiritual  good. 

28 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

In  the  third  place,  our  highest  reason  would 
lead  us  to  anticipate  that,  while  His  demands 
should  not  do  violence  to  our  sense  of  justice, 
yet,  as  His  thoughts  are  not  as  oiu:  thoughts, 
nor  His  ways  as  our  ways,  those  demands  might 
transcend  our  understanding  and  go  beyond  our 
knowledge.  In  other  words,  we  should  expect 
most  humbly  and  reverently  to  accord  to  the 
Divine  Being  His  undisputed  prerogative  to 
deal  with  us  as  in  His  infinite  wisdom  He  should 
deem  best.  Even  for  the  relief  of  our  bodily 
ills  we  are  accustomed  to  exercise  our  best 
available  reason  when  we  leave  absolutely  to 
our  physician  to  prescribe  for  us  such  remedies 
as  in  his  judgment  he  may  consider  wise. 
The  mystery  of  our  physical  mechanism  is  such 
that  we  do  not  pretend  to  know  what  treatment 
is  best  for  us  nor  the  chemical  processes  through 
which  the  medicines  we  take  must  pass  to 
accomplish  the  desired  result.  With  a  faith 
that  would  be  truly  amazing  were  it  not  so 
common  we  place  our  lives  absolutely  in  the 
hands  of  our  doctor,  although  he  does  not 
claim  omniscience,  and  generally  our  faith  is 
justified  by  the  results. 

Is  it  therefore  an  unwarranted  demand  on 
29 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

our  faith  if  the  divine  Physician,  who  is  omni- 
scient and  in  His  own  realm  completely  cogni- 
zant of  our  spiritual  maladies,  should  ask  us  to 
trust  Him  when  He  administers  to  the  relief  of 
our  spiritual  ailments? 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  record  of  our  Lord's 
teaching  and  see  how  fully  the  reasonable  ex- 
pectations entertained  as  to  what  His  revela- 
tion should  be  have  been  verified  by  all  His 
precepts. 

He  opened  His  great  campaign  of  good  news 
from  God  by  assuring  His  hearers  everywhere 
that  His  Heavenly  Father  had  sent  Him  to  de- 
clare, first  of  all,  that  He  loved  men  with  a 
tender,  yet  strong,  personal  and  eternal  love. 
This  message  to  many  a  sad,  wqary,  and 
anxious  heart  was  indeed  a  revelation  with  all 
the  freshness  of  novelty  and  full  of  hope. 
This  inspiring  truth  He  illustrated  by  many 
beautiful  parables,  of  which  that  of  the  Prodigal 
Son  is  a  notable  type.  He  reminded  them  that 
God  was  a  Father,  and  all  men  His  children, 
and  that  He  loved  them  all,  good  and  evil, 
despite  their  sin  and  unworthiness.  If  they 
felt  that  God  was  far  away  from  them,  and  knew 
that  no  man  had  ever  seen  Him,  He  made  Him 

30 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

real  and  present  by  declaring  that  He  who  had 
seen  Him,  had  seen  the  Father;  that  He  and  the 
Father  were  one.  This  truth,  so  startling.  He 
brought  home  to  them  by  such  infallible  proofs 
as  showed  that  He  was  complete  Master  of  the 
world  and  the  forces  of  nature;  nay,  that  even 
the  powers  of  death  yielded  to  the  spell  of  His 
divine  command.  He  stood  forth  and  bade  all 
who  were  weary  and  heavy  laden  to  come  unto 
Him  and  He  would  give  them  rest.  Thus  He 
won  the  implicit  confidence  of  men.  He  knit 
and  tied  them  to  Himself  in  the  bonds  of  an 
affection  which  even  death  could  not  break. 
But  this  was  not  all,  for  after  a  life  of  sinless 
perfection,  abounding  in  deeds  of  mercy  and 
relief.  He  sealed  His  devotion  by  a  death  upon 
the  cross  of  ignominy  and  shame.  Finally,  by 
rising  from  the  grave  in  fulfilment  of  His  oft- 
repeated  assurance.  He  again  demonstrated 
that  He  was  verily  the  Son  of  God.  Then,  after 
forty  days,  being  seen  of  men,  and  going  in  and 
out  among  them,  and  assuring  His  Disciples 
beyond  all  doubt  of  the  reality  of  His  risen  life 
and  His  complete  victory  over  death,  He  re- 
turned to  His  Father  from  whom  He  came. 
This  very  brief  outline,  so  familiar  to  us  all, 
31 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

would  be  entirely  incomplete  were  we  to  forget 
the  main  object  of  His  coming.  That  object 
was  to  establish  upon  earth  a  spiritual  Kingdom 
which  should  endure  to  the  end.  Early  in  His 
ministry  He  prepared  His  Disciples  for  His 
return  to  the  Father.  That  His  work  might  go 
on  forever  He  established  His  Church.  Against 
that  Church  He  said  the  gates  of  hell  should 
never  prevail.  He  promised  that  He  would  be 
with  it  through  the  ages. 

It  is  vitally  important  that  we  should  re- 
member that  the  Christ  was  not  content  to  sow 
the  seed  of  His  message  here  and  there  and  let 
that  seed  bear  fruit  at  random.  His  coming 
into  the  world  was  not  intended  to  be  a  mo- 
mentary and  brilliant  display  of  divine  power. 
His  appearance  among  men  was  not  simply  to 
give  them  a  brief  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  to  dazzle  them  with  a  glimpse  of  super- 
natural glory,  and  then  to  leave  the  world  in 
darkness.  Nothing  is  more  evident  to  one 
reading  the  Gospels  than  that  our  Lord  con- 
templated from  the  beginning  the  perpetuation 
of  the  great  work  which  He  had  inaugurated, 
and  that  it  should  go  on  increasingly  after  His 
bodily  presence  had  been  withdrawn.    To  this 

32 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

end  He  deliberately  gathered  about  Him  twelve 
men  as  chosen  Apostles.  With  these  men  He 
lived  for  well-nigh  three  years.  He  had  them 
about  His  person,  He  prayed  with  them,  He 
talked  with  them.  With  painstaking  and 
prophetic  vision  He  instructed  them.  He  ex- 
amined and  cross-examined  them.  He  infused 
them  with  His  own  spirit.  He  communicated 
to  them  the  genius  of  His  own  unique  per- 
sonality. He  breathed  into  them  the  fire  of 
His  own  enthusiasm.  Then  He  ordained  them. 
He  gave  them  their  solemn  commission.  He 
said  to  them:  **A11  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  earth.  Go  ye  therefore  and  teach 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things,  whatsoever 
I  have  commanded  you,  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.    Amen." 

After  our  Lord  had  ascended  to  Heaven  we 
see  these  twelve  Apostles  setting  forth  on  their 
mission  in  obedience  to  their  Master*s  com- 
mand. They  teach  in  His  name.  They  bap- 
tize disciples.  They  gather  into  the  fold  of 
Christ  a  great  multitude  of  believers.  On  the 
Day  of  Pentecost,  on  the  occasion  of  the  preach- 

3  33 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ing  of  Saint  Peter,  three  thousand  persons  were 
baptized  and  added  to  the  Church.  Our  Lord 
had  already  spoken  of  Baptism  as  the  door 
of  entering  the  Kingdom.  To  Nicodemus  He 
said:  ** Except  a  man  be  bom  of  water,  and  of 
the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God."  Again,  in  the  upper  room  on  the  night 
before  He  was  crucified,  in  the  presence  of  His 
Apostles,  He  instituted  the  Lord's  Supper,  or 
the  Holy  Communion  of  His  Body  and  Blood, 
bidding  His  Disciples  to  observe  this  feast  of 
the  breaking  of  bread  in  remembrance  of  Him. 

If  we  again  ask  ourselves,  *'What  does 
Christ  demand?"  in  the  way  of  faith  and  obedi- 
ence, we  have  His  own  great  summary  in  these 
words :  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with 
all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great  com- 
mandment, and  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these 
two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  , 

To  enable  us  to  keep  this  broad  and  compre- 
hensive law,  appealing  at  once  to  our  intelli- 
gence as  reasonable  and  just  and  to  our  hearts 
as  but  a  fitting  response  to  our  Saviour's  love, 

34 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

He  has  provided  in  Holy  Baptism  a  means  of 
entering  His  Kingdom,  thereby  receiving  grace 
and  spiritual  regeneration,  and  in  the  Holy 
Communion  heavenly  food  to  nourish  and  sus- 
tain us  and  make  us  partakers  of  the  merits  of 
His  death  and  passion. 

Christ  demands,  then,  on  the  part  of  those  who 
accept  and  desire  to  serve  Him  that  they  shall 
confess  their  belief  in  Him,  and  be  incorporated 
by  Holy  Baptism  into  His  Kingdom,  purposing 
to  lead  a  life  agreeable  to  His  will. 

He  has  provided  for  us  in  the  most  comfort- 
able Sacrament  of  the  Holy  Communion  a 
means  of  grace  whereby,  unworthy  as  we  are, 
He  condescends  to  refresh  and  sustain  us. 

If  with  earnest  faith  and  true  repentance  we 
approach  Him,  we  are  assured  of  His  pardon 
and  peace. 


CHRIST   AND  THE   CHURCH 

THE  visible  Church  of  Christ  is  a  congre- 
gation of  faithful  men,  in  which  the  pure 
word  of  God  is  preached,  and  the  sacraments 
are  duly  administered  according  to  Christ's 
ordinance  in  all  those  things  that  of  necessity 
are  requisite  to  the  same. 

This  definition,  which  we  find  in  our  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  contains  implicitly  all  the 
marks  of  the  primitive  and  Apostolic  Church. 
But  in  order  to  grasp  its  full  meaning  in  the 
light  of  the  developments  of  the  present  day  it 
is  important  to  dwell  somewhat  in  detail  upon 
the  words  used.  Indeed,  they  are  so  full  of 
meaning  and  raise  so  many  questions  that  we 
shall  find  it  most  interesting  and  instructive 
to  explain  and  elaborate  the  significance  of  the 
terms  used. 

As  members  of  the  old  historic  Church  to 
36 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

which  we  belong,  we  call  ourselves  Churchmen. 
What  is  a  Churchman?  Webster's  Dictionary 
defines  a  Churchman  as  an  Episcopalian,  as 
distinguished  from  a  Presbyterian  or  Congre- 
gationalist.  The  Century  Dictionary  defines  a 
Churchman  as  a  member  of  the  Episcopal,  as 
distinguished  from  a  member  of  any  other 
Church.  It  is  an  interesting  and  significant 
fact  that  our  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic  has 
thus  pre-empted  the  word  Churchman,  and  it 
has  been  freely  accorded  to  us  by  all  the  dic- 
tionaries and  by  the  accepted  usage  of  the 
English  language  as  our  own  characteristic  and 
descriptive  word.  The  members  of  no  other 
religious  body  call  themselves  Churchmen. 

Saint  Peter,  speaking  by  inspiration  of  God, 
tells  us  to  be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer 
to  every  man  who  asks  us  a  reason  for  the  hope 
that  is  in  us.  What  reason  can  we  give,  then, 
for  being  Chiurchmen?  There  are  those  who 
tell  us  that  it  does  not  make  any  difference  to 
what  Church  you  belong.  They  tell  us  that  we 
are  all  aiming  for  the  same  place,  we  are  all 
going  to  the  same  Heaven,  and  that  it  does  not 
matter  what  particular  road  we  take.  One 
man  likes  the  hill  road,  another  the  valley 

37 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

road,  and  still  another  the  river  road.  They 
tell  us  that,  inasmuch  as  there  are  scores  of 
Chtuches  into  which  our  American  Christianity 
is  divided,  a  man  has  the  same  right  to  choose 
his  Church  as  to  select  his  political  party.  More- 
over, if  at  any  time  he  gets  tired  of  his  Church, 
or  disagrees  with  his  brethren  about  some  doc- 
trine or  practice,  he  and  others  like-minded 
with  himself  can  separate  from  that  particular 
Church  and  form  another  which  will  better 
express  what  he  believes.  To  this  theory  we 
Churchmen  answer  most  emphatically,  "No." 
With  us  it  is  wholly  incredible  that  a  Chtirch 
can  thus  be  made  by  man,  for  we  know  only 
the  **  Church  of  the  living  God,  the  groimd  and 
the  pillar  of  the  truth."  It  was  once  for  all 
established  on  this  earth  by  one  greater  than 
man.  Jesus  Christ,  its  divine  Founder,  de- 
clared, **0n  this  rock  [the  rock  of  faith  in  His 
divinity]  I  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  As  it  was 
thus  founded  by  our  Lord,  so  it  is  kept  alive 
and  made  vital  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  ani- 
mates it  and  guides  it  into  all  truth.  The 
Church  created  by  the  express  word  of  its 
divine  Founder,  and  not  a  man-made  affair, 

38 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

comes  from  above,  and  not  from  below.  The 
Chiirch  is  the  body  of  Christ.  It  is  one,  and 
not  many.  In  the  Creed  we  are  taught  to  say, 
*'We  believe  in  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church."  Saint  Patd  says  we  are  baptized 
into  one  body,  the  Church.  He  asks,  *'Is 
Christ  divided?"  The  Church  is  Catholic. 
The  word  Catholic  means  imiversal. 

This  Church,  this  divine  society,  was  founded 
by  Jesus  Christ,  Himself,  on  the  foundation  of 
the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  He  Himself  being 
the  head  corner-stone.  He  commissioned  the 
twelve  Apostles  the  first  Bishops  of  the  Church, 
to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature.  To  separate  ourselves  from 
this  divine  society  which  Christ  founded  we 
Churchmen  should  regard  as  a  grievous  sin, 
unthinkable  to  one  who  knows  what  the  Church 
is,  and  clearly  contrary  to  the  express  will  of 
our  Divine  Saviour. 

The  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  exhorts  us 
to  endeavor  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace.  He  reminds  us  that  there 
is  one  body  and  one  spirit,  even  as  we  are 
called  in  one  hope  of  our  calling;  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father 

39 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  all,  who  is  over  all,  and  through  all,  and  in 
us  all. 

It  is  in  startling  contrast  to  this  oneness  of 
the  body  of  Christ,  as  so  strongly  set  forth  in 
the  New  Testament,  that  we  find  to-day  Chris- 
tian people  divided  into  so  many  Churches,  and 
the  forces  of  Christianity,  which  should  present 
a  solid  front  to  the  common  enemy,  broken  up 
and  weakened  by  such  diversity  of  opinion  as 
to  what  constitutes  the  essential  truth  of  the 
Gospel.  In  our  own  country,  and  throughout 
the  Christian  world,  some  of  these  Chiurches 
are  numerically  strong,  and  they  reckon  among 
their  numbers  thousands  of  conscientious.  God- 
ly, and  zealous  Disciples  of  oiu:  Lord,  who  set 
us  a  fine  example  of  noble  Christian  self- 
sacrifice  and  missionary  zeal.  Among  these 
Churches  we  count  a  great  host  of  our  dear 
friends  and  relatives.  They  are  knit  and  tied 
to  us  by  many  ties,  social,  religious,  and  chari- 
table. We  are  grateful  to  God  for  whatever 
measure  of  His  grace  He  has  bestowed  upon 
them,  and  for  all  the  good  they  have  been 
able  to  accomplish  in  the  world.  We  love 
them  as  sincere  believers  in  our  common  Lord 
and   Saviour.     For   them   as  individuals   we 

40 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

cherish  an  affectionate  and  reverent  esteem. 
We  know  that  they  are  not  only  honest  in  their 
convictions,  but  often  more  devoted  lovers  of 
God  than  many  among  ourselves. 

Our  attitude  toward  all  who  love  our  Lord 
in  sincerity  should  be  kindly  and  considerate. 
Moreover,  we  should  remember  for  our  comfort 
that  while  our  Saviour  was  still  on  earth  one 
of  His  Disciples  said  to  him,  **  Master,  we  saw 
one  casting  out  devils  in  Thy  name,  and  he 
foUoweth  not  us;  and  we  forbade  him  because 
he  followeth  not  us";  but  Jesus  said,  *' Forbid 
him  not,  for  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  on  our 
side."  So  we  feel  that  our  brethren  of  other 
Churches,  who  are  casting  out  devils  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  are  not  against  us,  but  in  their 
way  are  accomplishing  much  good.  If  Saint 
Paul  could  say  with  reference  to  some  of  the 
preaching  which  was  not  according  to  his  views : 
**What  then?  Notwithstanding  every  way, 
whether  in  pretense  or  truth,  Christ  is  preached : 
and  I  therein  do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice," 
surely  we  Churchmen  ought  to  be  broad- 
minded  enough  to  recognize  the  good  work  of 
other  Christian  bodies  outside  the  communion 
and  fellowship  of  our  own  Church. 

41 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

In  this  connection  there  are  other  considera- 
tions to  be  borne  in  mind.  One  is,  that  our  re- 
ligious convictions  are  almost  entirely  deter- 
mined, in  God's  Providence,  by  our  birth, 
parentage,  and  environment.  People  inherit 
their  religious  views,  and  they  are  often  the 
more  cherished  because  they  are  received  from 
our  ancestors.  We  should  be  deeply  grateful 
that  God  has  brought  us  into  the  communion 
of  His  Holy  Church,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
thousands  of  people  from  no  fault  of  their  own 
have  never  had  the  opportunity  of  knowing  for 
what  the  Church  stands. 

Again,  many  of  the  religious  bodies  which 
broke  off  from  otu:  historic  and  Apostolic 
Church  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  and 
thereafter  did  so  because  at  that  period  our 
Church  did  not  have  the  grace  to  extend  to 
them  that  spirit  of  Christlike  toleration  and 
brotherly  love  required  to  preserve  the  unity  of 
spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  In  other  words, 
while  divisions  took  place,  we  have  not  always 
been  free  from  blame.  If  our  Church  did  not 
actually  cause  division,  it  may  at  least  be  held 
responsible  for  such  an  attitude  toward  those 
who  differ  from  us  as  to  have  made  separation 

42 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

seem  to  them  justifiable  in  the  exercise  of  their 
liberty. 

We  are  now  living,  let  us  thank  God,  in  an 
age  of  far  greater  religious  toleration  and 
breadth.  Many  of  the  reasons,  theological  and 
otherwise,  that  once  caused  division,  no  longer 
exist,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  all  Christian  people  can  now  cherish 
toward  one  another  greater  charity,  and  can 
make  allowances  for  the  differences  which  exist. 
In  the  atmosphere  of  this  more  enlightened 
spirit,  all  who  love  our  Lord  and  are  endeavor- 
ing to  serve  Him  are  going  to  know  one  another 
better.  Moreover,  the  conditions  which  now 
prevail  make  the  hope  of  the  reunion  of 
Christendom  far  more  reasonable  than  hitherto. 
Our  own  Church,  with  its  Scriptural  faith  and 
Apostolic  order,  has  a  unique  opportunity  of 
manifesting  to  the  world  the  ancient  landmarks. 
It  is  our  privilege  to  bear  our  witness  to  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  and,  realizing 
the  precious  heritage  committed  to  our  trust, 
to  loyally  commend  to  others  the  blessings  we 
have  received. 

Thus,  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  we  may 
hasten  that  day  when  the  dissevered  fragments 

43 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  the  once  united  body  of  Christ  may  be 
brought  together  into  one  fold,  under  one 
Shepherd. 

Meanwhile  it  is  a  cause  of  profoundest  grati- 
tude, that  the  leaders  of  religious  thought  in  all 
the  Churches  are  now  realizing  as  never  before 
the  wrong  and  weakness  of  division,  and  are 
praying  constantly  for  the  unity  of  God*s  people 
throughout  the  world. 

This  is  a  great  missionary  age,  and  the  non- 
Christian  nations,  such  as  China  and  India, 
Japan  and  Africa,  by  means  of  modem  methods 
of  intercommunication,  are  being  brought  to 
our  very  doors.  As  the  Gospel  is  being  carried 
to  the  millions  of  our  fellow-men  who  have 
never  known  its  life-giving  message,  the  Chris- 
tian workers  are  learning  that  oiu*  unhappy  di- 
visions are  the  greatest  hindrance  to  the  con- 
quest of  the  world  for  Christ.  The  heathen 
nations  are  taimting  us  with  our  differences. 
They  are  practically  saying  to  us,  "When  you 
Christians  can  agree,  it  will  then  be  time  for 
us  to  heed  your  invitation,  and  believe  in  the 
Christ  you  preach." 

So  both  at  home  and  abroad  we  are  met 
on  every  hand  by  the  overwhelming  necessity 

44 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  Christian  unity.  Indeed,  that  unity  has 
become  the  condition  of  our  conquest  of  the 
worid  for  Christ.  We  Christians  must  get 
together.  On  what  basis  can  reimion  ever 
come  about  if  not  on  the  fotmdation  of  the  old 
faith  and  order,  which  for  fifteen  hundred  years 
presented  a  imited  front  to  the  world?  Only  as 
we  unite  can  that  great  high  priestly  prayer  of 
our  divine  Founder  be  realized.  ''That  they 
all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  Me  and  I 
in  Thee.  That  they  also  may  be  one  in  us. 
That  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou  hast 
sent  Me." 


VI 

THE   CHURCH   AND  THE   MINISTRY 

IN  our  previous  chapter  we  have  seen  that 
the  Church  is  a  divine  institution  and 
cannot  be  made  by  man.  We  have  also  learned 
that  throughout  the  New  Testament  the  Church 
is  spoken  of  as  one,  and  that  the  inspired  writers 
laid  great  emphasis  on  keeping  the  tmity  of  the 
spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  dwell  on  a  further 
mark  of  the  primitive  Church.  Not  only  is  the 
Church  one  throughout  the  world,  but  it  is 
Apostolic.  We  say  in  the  Creed,  **I  believe  in 
one  Holy  and  Apostolic  Church."  The  Church 
stands  not  only  for  a  definite  faith,  but  for  an 
equally  definite  and  constituted  order  of  min- 
isters, coming  directly  from  Christ,  through  the 
twelve  Apostles  and  their  successors,  in  un- 
broken line,  through  all  the  Christian  centuries 
down  to  the  present  time.    The  Church  be- 

46 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

lieves  not  only  in  the  necessity  of  a  right  faith 
in  God  and  in  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  Holy 
Bible,  but  also  in  the  necessity  of  a  divinely 
commissioned  and  ordained  order  of  men  to 
teach  the  faith,  to  bear  witness  to  the  faith,  and 
to  guard  the  faith  throughout  all  ages. 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  twelve  Apostles 
were  appointed  directly  by  our  Lord,  and  that 
He  gave  them  all  power  and  authority  to  carry 
on  His  work,  and  promised  to  be  with  His 
Church  to  the  end  of  the  world.  We  some- 
times hear  it  said  that  one  minister  is  just  as 
good  as  another  so  long  as  he  is  a  good  man. 
We  Churchmen  reply  that  it  is  not  a  question 
of  the  personal  goodness  of  the  man.  It  is  a 
question  of  the  office,  and  the  duly  constituted 
authority  to  execute  that  office.  In  the  town 
in  which  you  happen  to  live  there  is  an  officer 
known  as  the  postmaster.  By  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  the  sole  appointing-power 
to  a  post-office  is  vested  in  the  President. 
There  may  be  in  your  town  or  city  many  other 
men  just  as  good  and  just  as  well  fitted  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  that  office,  but  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  people  as  well,  can  only  recognize 
as  postmaster  the  man  who  has  been  appointed 

47 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

by  the  constituted  authority  of  the  President. 
So  we  Churchmen  are  taught  to  recognize  and 
acknowledge  as  authorized  to  administer  the 
Holy  Communion  and  officiate  in  holy  things 
only  those  who,  by  the  constituted  authority 
of  the  Church's  ministry,  have  been  ordained 
and  set  apart  for  that  purpose.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Church's  life  on  this  earth  no 
man  among  us  has  presumed  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  office  of  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon  except 
as  he  has  been  ordained  and  set  apart  by  the 
bishops  as  successors  to  the  Apostles. 

For  the  first  fifteen  hundred  years  of  the 
Church's  existence  it  is  impossible  to  show  one 
Church  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  in  which 
its  ministers  have  not  been  set  apart  in  this 
Apostolic  way.  We  Churchmen  regard  our- 
selves as  trustees  or  stewards  of  Jesus  Christ, 
to  sacredly  safeguard  and  pass  on,  unimpaired, 
this  Apostolic  ministry  or  divinely  constituted 
order  of  Church  government.  Do  we  say,  then, 
that  there  are  no  good  Christians  outside  of  the 
communion  and  fellowship  of  our  historic 
Church?  Most  distinctly  we  affirm  just  the 
contrary,  and  are  glad  to  acknowledge  that  the 
free  and  abundant  grace  of  God  frequently  over- 

4B 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

flows  the  legitimate  channels  of  regular  and 
constituted  order.  We  are  glad  to  recognize 
the  Christian  virtues  and  exemplary  lives  man- 
ifested by  all  who  profess  the  name  of  Christ. 

Moreover,  in  our  practice  we  own  every 
person — man,  woman,  and  child — ^baptized  with 
water  in  the  name  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost  as  a  member  of  Christ's  Holy  Catholic 
Church.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  be  a  member 
of  the  Church  by  baptism  and  quite  another 
thing  to  be  in  full  communion  and  fellowship 
with  the  Church  through  its  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation. It  does  not  follow  that  because  at 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  something  over 
three  hundred  years  ago,  and  very  often  since 
that  time,  a  number  of  such  baptized  people 
have  gotten  together  and  voted  themselves  a 
Church,  and  declared  themselves  a  regular 
branch  of  the  one  great,  divine  society,  that  act 
on  their  part  creates  any  such  regular  branch 
or  makes  them  a  Church  founded  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

Again,  all  people  bom  in  the  United  States 
are  citizens  thereof;  but  if  a  nimiber  of  Pennsyl- 
vanians  should  get  together  to-morrow  and  vote 
themselves  a  new  state,  that  action  would  not 

4  49 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

make  them  a  state  of  the  American  Union. 
Their  officers  would  have  no  such  powers  or 
functions  as  those  belonging  to  a  real  state. 
Some  of  us  are  Masons.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  only  way  by  which  a  man,  or  a  body  of  men, 
can  become  Masons  is  to  receive  that  honor 
from  those  who,  in  turn,  have  received  it  in 
unbroken  lineage  and  descent  from  the  original 
founders  of  the  order  of  Freemasons.  So  as  we 
have  received  this  ministry  from  our  fathers, 
and  they  from  their  fathers,  back  to  the  very 
hands  of  Christ,  we  are  stewards  and  trustees 
of  the  divine  deposit.  We  cannot  betray  the 
trust  committed  to  our  care. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  question 
of  the  ministry  is  that  which  constitutes  the 
chief  difference  between  the  various  Protestant 
bodies  into  which  our  American  Christianity  is 
divided  and  ourselves.  While  they  differ  among 
themselves  in  matters  of  detail  as  to  how  their 
ministers  are  ordained,  speaking  broadly,  one 
theory  governs  them  all.  They  have  all 
broken  off  from  the  historical  continuity  or 
succession  of  bishops  to  which  our  Church  has 
most  scrupulously  adhered  through  all  the 
Christian  centuries.    These  modem  Churches 

so 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

have  all  come  into  existence  since  the  Reforma- 
tion in  the  sixteenth  century.  They  all  deny 
the  necessity  of  confining  the  function  of  or- 
daining ministers  to  bishops,  although  they 
admit  that  this  has  been  the  invariable  rule  and 
practice  which  obtained  in  the  whole  Christian 
world  up  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation. 

By  some  of  these  churches  it  is  claimed  that 
the  authority  to  make  ministers  comes  directly 
from  the  congregation.  If  a  young  man  feels 
that  he  is  called  of  God  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  to  devote  himself  to  the  sacred  vocation 
of  a  minister,  and  the  congregation  through  its 
representative  officers  is  convinced  that  this  in- 
ward call  is  genuine  and  that  he  is  a  fit  person 
for  the  work,  he  is  solemnly  set  apart,  or  or- 
dained by  the  vote  of  the  congregation. 

Their  answer  to  the  question,  "How  did  our 
minister  get  to  be  a  minister?"  is  that  he  first 
of  all  was  called  of  God,  and  then,  having  been 
prepared  intellectually  and  spiritually  for  the 
exercise  of  his  office,  he  is  inducted  into  it  by 
the  congregation.  On  the  other  hand,  our 
Church  holds  and  teaches,  in  common  with  the 
Greek  and  Roman  branches  of  the  historical 
Church,  that  the  authority  to  ordain  has  been 

51 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

vested  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  an  office  called,  at  first  Apostles, 
and  then  Bishops,  or  chief  Pastors,  and  that 
they  alone  can  confer  the  grace  and  power  of 
Priesthood. 

We  agree  with  our  brethren  of  other  Churches 
that  the  inward  call  from  God  is  the  first  requi- 
site. But  this  inward  call  must  be  authenti- 
cated and  countersigned  and  safeguarded  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands  of  the  Bishop.  This 
solemn  act  of  imposition  of  hands  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  the  outward  call,  or  certification 
of  the  Church.  Before  the  Ordination  can  take 
place  the  young  man  is  supposed  to  be  trained 
by  a  long  process  of  education.  He  is  to  go 
through  a  college,  or  university,  where  he 
receives  a  thorough  culture  in  the  liberal  arts 
and  letters.  He  is  then  expected  to  enter  a 
theological  seminary,  where  for  three  years 
he  pursues  a  course  of  sacred  studies,  including 
a  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  Holy  Bible, 
the  philosophy  of  religion,  the  doctrines  of  the 
Bible,  the  history  and  teachings  of  the  Church, 
the  art  of  preaching,  and,  in  short,  such  in- 
struction as  shall  best  equip  him  for  the  exercise 
of  his  holy  calling.     During  the  entire  progress 

52 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  his  studies,  moreover,  he  is  required  to  present 
to  the  ecclesiastical  authority  such  evidence 
and  testimony  as  to  his  manner  of  life  and 
character  as  may  assure  those  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  him  of  his  fitness  to  be  ordained. 
The  inward  call,  so  vital  and  important,  must 
be  certified  to  and  outwardly  authenticated  by 
the  act  of  the  Bishop  in  ordaining. 

The  Church  teaches  that  the  right  to  ad- 
minister the  Holy  Sacraments  and  officiate  in 
holy  things,  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  administer 
the  word  of  God,  to  have  the  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult care  of  souls,  is  one  involving  great  respon- 
sibility for  the  person  who  undertakes  the  work, 
as  well  as  for  the  people  among  whom  he  serves. 
We,  therefore,  loyally  insist,  as  Churchmen,  on 
perpetuating  this  threefold  ministry  of  Bishop, 
Priest,  and  Deacon,  not  because  it  is  ours,  but 
because  it  is  not  ours,  but  God's,  committed 
to  our  trust  to  maintain  and  pass  on  as  His 
sacred  Stewardship.  Along  with  this  Apostolic 
ministry,  coming  down  through  the  ages  in 
unbroken  continuity  from  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Apostles,  there  has  always  been  the  Scriptural 
faith  and  doctrine,  **The  form  of  sound  words," 
the  proportion  and  symmetry  of  things  essential 

53 


A    BISHOP  AMONG  HIS    FLOCK 

to  be  believed,  so  vital  to  the  wholesome  life  of 
the  people. 

When,  sometimes,  we  are  blamed  for  contend- 
ing steadfastly  for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered 
to  the  Saints,  and  following  in  the  footsteps  of 
our  fathers,  we  can  at  least  reply  in  all  charity 
that  we  have  no  moral  right  to  give  away  or 
disesteem  that  which  is  not  ours  to  surrender, 
but  a  trust  which  has  been  committed  to  our 
defense  and  keeping  under  the  most  solemn 
sanctions. 

When  our  friends  and  brethren  of  other  com- 
mimions  point  to  the  evident  blessing  of  God 
upon  their  present  practice  and  systems,  as 
shown  by  their  numbers  and  their  most  praise- 
worthy achievements  in  Christian  character  and 
devout  living,  we  can  only  thank  God  for  all 
they  have  accomplished  without  that  ministry 
which  we  have  in  trust.  At  the  same  time  we 
can  point,  not  with  any  feeling  of  self-compla- 
cency, but  only  with  emotions  of  profoimd  sor- 
row, to  the  unhappy  divisions  into  which  their 
systems  inevitably  lead.  That  these  divisions 
sadly  weaken  the  cause  of  Christ  and  delay 
the  coming  of  the  world's  conquest  of  sin,  they, 
with  us,  freely  admit.    We  cannot  but  hope  that 

54 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

the  time  is  coining — ^nay,  is  almost  here — when 
they  will  be  able  to  see,  as  we  see  so  clearly, 
that  the  same  zeal  and  devotion  which  they 
now  evince,  if  exercised  in  the  one  communion 
and  fellowship  of  the  faith  and  order  of  the 
Apostolic  ministry,  would  bring  forth  even 
greater  fruits  of  the  spirit.  In  other  words,  it 
ought  to  be  evident  that  the  blessing  of  God, 
so  far  as  He  has  vouchsafed  that  blessing,  has 
been  bestowed,  not  because  of  their  failure  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Church's  long-es- 
tablished method,  but  in  spite  of  that  fact. 

Finally,  we  thank  God  that  He  has  vouch- 
safed to  our  Church,  as  representatives  of  the 
old  faith,  the  grace  to  issue  an  invitation  to  all 
who  acknowledge  Christ  as  God  and  Saviour  to 
prepare  for  a  world's  conference  on  Faith  and 
Order.  This  invitation  was  sent  forth  about 
three  years  ago.  Already  favorable  responses 
have  been  received  from  nearly  all  the  post- 
Reformation  Protestant  Churches.  They  have 
appointed  commissions  to  meet  with  us  and 
to  study  the  whole  question  of  Christian  unity. 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  at  the  present 
time  thousands  of  earnest  Christians  are  en- 
gaged in  humble  prayer  to  Almighty  God  that 

55 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

He  may  lead  us  all  seriously  to  lay  to  heart  the 
great  dangers  we  are  in  by  our  unhappy  divi- 
sions, and  to  seek  His  merciful  guidance  in  help- 
ing us  to  find  some  way  of  healing  the  breaches 
in  the  body  of  Christ. 

Meanwhile  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  Churchmen 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  further  among  Chris- 
tian people  the  spirit  of  forbearance  and  loving 
charity,  that  we  may  know  one  another  better 
and  cultivate  that  atmosphere  of  peace  and 
good  will  in  which  alone  any  hope  of  abiding 
tuiity  can  be  realized. 


VII 

THE   CHURCH   AND  THE   SACRAMENTS 

IT  is  evident  that  there  is  a  wide -spread 
neglect  of  the  entire  sacramental  system  of 
the  Gospel  among  thousands  of  sincere  and 
earnest  Christian  people.  Not  only  do  they 
fail  to  have  their  children  baptized,  but  it  is 
not  at  all  imusual  to  meet  scores  of  adults 
who  have  never  received  Holy  Baptism.  You 
will  find,  if  you  ask  them  about  it,  that  they 
have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  regarding  it  as  a 
mere  form  and  ceremony,  possessing  no  prac- 
tical relation  to  the  Christian  life.  We  do  not 
refer  simply  to  those  Christian  bodies  which  do 
not  believe  in  infant  Baptism  and  neglect  it  on 
principle,  but  rather  to  a  growing  disesteem  of 
the  sacred  right  of  Baptism  among  many 
Christian  people.  Then  when  we  come  to 
consider  the  attitude  of  many  so-called  Chris- 
tians toward  the  blessed  Sacrament  of  the  Holy 

57 


A    BISHOP   AMONG  HIS   FLOCK 

Communion  we  find  the  case  far  worse.  A 
number  of  the  Protestant  bodies  and  Protestant 
Churches  about  us  celebrate  their  Communion 
only  once  in  three  months,  while  many  are 
taught  that  a  monthly  reception  is  quite  suf- 
ficient for  all  the  demands  of  the  Christian  life. 
This  lamentable  disregard  of  the  Sacraments 
results  not  only  from  the  divisions  into  which 
the  Christian  communities  are  divided,  but  it 
is  also  caused,  we  feel  assiu-ed,  by  an  utter 
failure  on  the  part  of  many  to  understand  the 
real  meaning  of  the  Sacraments,  and  the  place 
in  the  Christian  economy  which  they  are  in- 
tended to  occupy. 

We  shall  endeavor,  therefore,  in  this  chapter 
to  look  into  the  nature  of  the  Sacraments  and  to 
refresh  our  minds  by  getting  a  glimpse  of  their 
dignity  and  importance  in  the  whole  scheme  of 
Christian  doctrine  as  revealed  to  us  by  the  ex- 
press command  and  institution  of  ovir  Lord 
Himself  and  clearly  practised  by  the  Christian 
Church  during  the  many  centtuies  of  its  life 
before  the  divisions  which  took  place  at  the 
Reformation. 

A  Sacrament  has  been  defined  as  an  "out- 
ward and  visible  sign  of  an  inward  and  spiritual 

58 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

grace  given  unto  us,  ordained  by  Christ  Himself, 
as  a  means  whereby  we  receive  the  same,  and  a 
pledge  to  assure  us  thereof."  While  the  grace 
given  is  inward  and  spiritual,  it  is  none  the  less 
real  on  that  account.  A  Sacrament  that  has  been 
ordained  by  Christ  is  the  means  or  instrument 
whereby  we  receive  the  inward  grace,  and  it  is 
the  outward  and  visible  pledge  to  assure  us  that 
we  have  received  it.  By  the  word  grace  so 
frequently  used  in  Holy  Scripture  we  mean 
sanctifying  power;  a  certain  divine  influence 
exerted  on  the  hearts  of  men,  such  as  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  the  reading  of  the 
Scripture,  prayer,  meditation,  or  public  wor- 
ship produces.  In  our  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  we  thank  God  for  the  means  of  grace. 
It  is  that  influence  which  disposes  us  to  yield 
obedience  to  the  divine  laws,  to  practise  the 
Christian  virtues,  to  bear  trouble  with  patience 
and  resignation,  to  perform  our  duty  with  cour- 
age and  fidelity.  In  short,  it  is  the  invisible, 
but  real  spiritual  power  which  God  employs 
in  conveying  to  us  His  undeserved  mercies  and 
benefits.  It  is  evident  that  God*s  grace  is  not 
confined  to  His  Sacraments,  but  is  conveyed  in 
many  ways.    At  the  same  time,  as  a  merciful 

59 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

condescension  to  our  weakness  and  as  an  en- 
couragement and  assurance  to  our  faith,  He  has 
ordained  His  Sacraments  whereby  we  may  be 
sure  His  grace  will  be  given  in  response  to  our 
obedience. 

Moreover,  there  are  two  parts  in  a  Sacrament 
— ^namely,  the  outward  visible  sign  and  the 
inward  spiritual  grace.  These  two  parts  have 
been,  by  Christ's  express  command  and  insti- 
tution, knit  or  tied  together.  The  outward 
sign  and  the  inward  grace  complete  and  form 
the  Sacrament.  Of  course,  oiu*  divine  Lord 
could  have  dispensed  with  Sacraments  alto- 
gether. He  does  not  hem  in  and  limit  His  free 
grace  to  them.  That  grace  often  overflows  such 
ordained  channels.  But  nothing  in  the  New 
Testament  is  more  evident  than  the  solemn 
and  impressive  emphasis  He  lays  on  the  two 
great  sacraments  Holy  Baptism  and  the  Holy 
Communion,  which  He  ordained  for  our  use 
and  spiritual  sustenance.  Baptism  and  the 
Supper  of  our  Lord,  wherever  they  can  be  had, 
are  made  obligatory  upon  all  believers  in  Him. 
During  all  the  nineteen  centuries  of  Christian 
history  the  observance  of  these  two  simple  Sacra- 
ments, commanded  and  instituted  by  the  Mas- 

60 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ter,   has   been   an   invariable   mark   of   disd- 
pleship. 

How  the  grace  of  God  does  its  regenerating 
and  sanctifying  work  in  Holy  Baptism;  how, 
by  the  same  grace,  the  bread  and  wine,  spirit- 
ually taken  and  received  by  the  faithful  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  become  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ  are  mysteries,  not  contrary  to  the 
reason  of  man,  but  for  the  present  beyond  his 
finite  comprehension.  It  was  Nicodemus  who 
was  amazed  when  our  Lord  declared,  *' Except 
a  man  be  bom  of  water  and  of  the  spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God."  He  ex- 
claimed, **How  can  these  things  be!**  Our 
Lord  by  way  of  explanation  appealed  to  nature. 
He  reminded  him  that  the  wind  bloweth  where 
it  listeth,  and  that  he  heard  the  sound  thereof, 
but  could  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it 
goeth.    So  is  every  one  that  is  bom  of  the  spirit. 

Indeed,  it  might  be  well  for  us  to  dwell  a 
moment  on  our  Lord's  appeal  to  nature  as 
illustrative  of  the  method  of  divine  grace. 
There  are  men  who  find  it  difficult  to  accept  the 
sacramental  system  of  the  Church  because  they 
cannot  imderstand  the  mysterious  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

6i 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Indeed,  religion  in  general  is  a  stumbling- 
block  to  many,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  full  of 
mystery.  They  cannot  understand  it.  But  it 
is  at  least  worth  while  for  us  to  remind  those 
to  whom  the  mysteries  of  religion  present  such 
difficulties,  that  religion  is  not  the  only  realm 
where  mysteries  aboimd.  This  world  of  ours 
wherein  we  dwell  is  full  of  mystery.  Who  can 
explain  the  process  and  growth  and  development 
of  a  rose?  Where  does  it  get  its  fragrance, 
its  marvelous  color,  its  enhancing  beauty?  The 
very  bread  that  sustains  our  bodies;  who  has 
yet  unraveled  the  mysteries  that  enter  into  the 
vegetable  life  which  produces  it,  or  explained 
the  hidden  secret,  or  chemical  processes  of 
physical  notuishment?  We  know  some  of  the 
phenomena.  There  is  first  the  blade,  then  the 
ear,  and  then  the  full  com  on  the  ear.  The  life 
beyond  and  back  of  the  phenomena  is  still  a 
mystery.  Yet  we  do  not  hesitate  to  take  the 
food  prepared  for  us,  despite  all  the  mysteries 
as  to  its  soturce  and  its  preparation.  Our  Lord 
speaks  of  the  Holy  Communion  as  the  bread 
which  came  down  from  Heaven.  Again,  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  sow  and  reap,  to  walk  in  the 
light  of  the  sun,  and  utiHze  that  strange  and 

62 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

impalpable  force  in  nature  known  as  electric- 
ity, and  other  powers  of  the  universe,  though 
we  know  not  what  they  are.  By  appealing  to 
the  marvels  and  mysteries  of  His  beautiful 
world  God  built  up  the  faith  of  His  servant 
Job,  and  made  it  easy  for  him  to  accept  the 
miracles  of  His  grace.  He  said  to  him,  when  he 
was  in  doubt,  **Gird  up  now  thy  loins  like  a 
man,  for  I  will  demand  of  thee,  and  answer 
thou  me.  Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the 
foimdations  of  the  earth?  Declare,  if  thou 
hast  tmderstanding,  canst  thou  bind  the  sweet 
influences  of  the  Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands 
of  Orion?'*  Matthew  Arnold  says  somewhere 
that  the  greatest  miracle  in  the  world  is  the 
rising  of  the  sun.  To  a  man  who  believes  in 
God  at  all  as  the  maker  of  this  wonderful  cos- 
mos, with  its  laws  of  symmetry  and  beauty,  it 
should  surely  be  comparatively  easy  to  confide 
in  the  efficacy  of  those  divine  medicines  of  the 
soul  which  the  great  Physician  who  created 
the  sotd  and  knows  its  needs  has  ordained  in 
His  Sacraments  for  the  healing  of  its  spiritual 
maladies. 

Were  the  Sacraments  nothing  more  than  mere 
signs  and  symbols,  and  the  act  of  receiving  them 

63 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

merely  an  act  of  obedience,  it  would  still  be 
our  duty  to  follow  the  command  of  Christ. 
But  when  there  is  attached  to  the  outward  and 
visible  sign,  both  in  the  case  of  Baptism  and  of 
the  Holy  Communion,  on  the  sure  pledge  and 
gracious  promise  of  Christ  Himself  such  un- 
speakable blessings,  it  is  amazing  that  men 
should  hesitate. 

Thus  we  have  in  the  Church,  to  be  evermore 
lovingly  and  gratefully  received,  the  two  Sacra- 
ments which  our  Lord  Himself  instituted. 
Holy  Baptism  is  the  wonderful  act  of  God's 
love  by  which  He  bestows  upon  us  His  own 
life,  and  we  are  bom  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit. 
We  are  bom  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but 
of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God.  His  last 
great  commission  to  His  Disciples  was,  **Go 
ye,  therefore,  into  all  the  world  and  make 
disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  such 
things  as  I  have  commanded  you,  and  lo,  I 
am  with  you  always,  even  imto  the  end  of  the 
world."  And  then,  on  the  last  night  before  He 
was  crucified,  you  will  remember  how  He  took 
the  bread  and  the  wine,  and,  blessing  them, 

64 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

solemnly  instituted  the  Lord's  Supper.  Every 
Christian  receives  the  Sacrament  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist  because  his  Saviour,  almost  as  His 
last  command  before  His  death,  said,  *'This  is 
my  body,"  and  "This  is  my  blood,  do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me. ' '  In  the  Holy  Communion 
the  outward  part  is  the  bread  and  wine,  which 
the  Lord  hath  commanded  to  be  received.  The 
inward  part  is  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
which  are  spiritually  taken  and  received  by  the 
faithful  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Sacraments, 
as  you  will  see,  therefore,  are  means  and  chan- 
nels of  God's  grace,  and  not  mere  signs  or  cere- 
monies. God's  part  in  Holy  Baptism  is  spirit- 
ual regeneration,  or  the  new  birth  into  His 
Kingdom,  the  Church.  God's  part  in  the  Holy 
Communion  is  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
really  imparted  to  us  in  a  heavenly  and  spirit- 
ual manner. 

The  right  to  administer  the  Sacraments  be- 
longs to  the  regularly  ordained  ministers  who 
have  been  set  apart  for  that  ptirpose.  But 
while  the  administration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
mimion  has  been  regarded  as  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  those  to  whom  it  has  been  given 
by  ordination,  such  is  not  the  rule  about  Holy 

5  65 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Baptism.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  the 
custom  of  our  Church  to  allow  lay-people  also 
to  perform  that  initial  Sacrament  in  cases  of 
emergency.  Lay  Baptism  has  been  recognized 
as  valid,  probably  because  of  the  fact  that  this 
Sacrament  is  universally  necessary  to  member- 
ship in  the  Chiirch,  and,  moreover,  because  in- 
fants as  well  as  adults  are  proper  subjects  for 
Baptism. 

In  the  last  resort  that  which  is  essential  to  a 
valid  Baptism  is  the  application  of  water  to  the 
person  to  be  baptized,  together  with  the  in- 
variable use  of  the  words  prescribed  by  our 
blessed  Lord,  * '  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

In  the  case  of  adults  repentance  and  faith  are 
required  before  receiving  that  Sacrament,  while 
for  infants,  who  by  reason  of  their  tender  age 
cannot  exercise  faith  and  repentance,  these  pre- 
requisites are  promised  in  their  behalf  by  their 
sponsors,  which  promise,  when  they  come  of 
age,  themselves  are  taught  to  perform. 

For  the  same  reason,  inasmuch  as  Baptism  is 
not  essentially  a  priestly  function,  but  also  a 
ministerial  one,  our  Church  has  generally  recog- 
nized as  validly  baptized  the  members  of  other 

66 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

religious  bodies  whose  ministers  have  not  been 
Episcopally  ordained. 

The  Church,  however,  has  always  followed  the 
invariable  usage  of  the  past  in  regarding  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion as  the  exclusive  prerogative  and  duty 
of  those  in  Holy  Orders ;  and  it  is  not  the  custom 
of  well-instructed  Churchmen  to  receive  that 
Holy  Sacrament  save  at  the  hands  of  those  who 
have  been,  according  to  the  canons  of  the 
Church,  solemnly  ordained  to  officiate  in  this 
service. 

The  invitation  to  come  to  the  Holy  Com- 
munion is  extended  in  the  Church  to  all  who 
truly  and  earnestly  repent,  and  are  in  love  and 
charity  with  their  neighbors,  and  intend  to  lead  a 
new  Hfe,  following  the  commandments  of  God 
and  walking  from  henceforth  in  His  holy  ways. 
We  draw  near  to  the  table  of  our  Lord,  not  be- 
cause we  are  free  from  sin  or  because  we  claim 
to  be  worthy  of  so  great  a  privilege,  but  for 
the  reason  that  we  need  His  pardon  and  His 
peace,  and  in  humble  obedience  to  His  own 
tender  and  loving  invitation  to  all  who  are 
weary  and  heavy  laden. 


VIII 

THE    RELATION    OF   THE    BIBLE   TO   THE    CHURCH 

BY  common  consent  the  Bible  is  the  au- 
thoritative record  of  Christianity.  The 
sixth  Article  of  our  Church  declares  that  Holy 
Scripture  contains  all  things  necessary  to  salva- 
tion; so  that  whatever  is  not  read  therein,  nor 
may  be  proved  thereby,  is  not  to  be  required 
of  any  man  that  it  should  be  believed  as  an 
article  of  faith  or  be  thought  requisite  or 
necessary  to  salvation. 

We  often  speak  of  the  Bible  as  the  Book  of 
peace  and  good-will  among  men.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  has  in  these  latter  days  become  a  Book 
of  war  and  controversy  and  division.  We  be- 
hold at  the  present  time  the  Christian  world 
cut  up  into  a  large  number  of  Churches,  all 
appealing  for  disciples,  and  each  one  claiming 
to  be  founded  on  the  Bible.  These  Churches  in 
many   instances   differ   from   one   another   in 

68 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

things  most  fundamental.  They  disagree  as  to 
what  is  necessary  to  believe,  not  only  as  to 
Church  government  and  order,  but,  what  is 
sadder  still,  as  to  the  essential  verities  of  the 
faith  itself.  They  hold  diametrically  opposite 
views  as  to  the  nature  and  person  of  Christ,  as 
to  the  significance  of  Holy  Baptism,  the  Holy 
Communion,  the  personality  and  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trin- 
ity, the  conditions  of  membership  in  the 
Church. 

Nothing  can  be  more  evident  than  that  they 
are  not  all  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  and 
propose  of  God's  revelation.  It  is  also  clearly 
manifest  that  these  Churches  number  among 
their  several  constituencies  many  thousands  of 
earnest  and  sincere,  conscientious,  intelligent, 
and  Godly  people.  The  most  significant  and 
saddest  feattue  of  the  situation  is  that  every 
sect  in  the  Christian  world  quotes  the  Bible  as 
the  source  and  justification  of  its  existence. 
Men  equally  learned,  equally  sincere,  equally 
Godly,  deduce  the  most  opposite  conclusion 
from  the  very  same  words.  Two  great  men 
whose  names  are  familiar  to  us  all  honestly  and 
earnestly  sought  to  know  what  the  Bible  taught 

69 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

about  predestination  and  free  will.  They  were 
George  Whitfield  and  John  Wesley.  On  their 
knees  they  asked  for  divine  guidance  as  to  this 
question,  which  was  vexing  their  souls.  They 
supplicated  the  Holy  Spirit  to  give  them  light 
on  a  matter  at  that  time  regarded  as  so  im- 
portant. They  both  rose  from  their  knees  more 
convinced  than  ever  that  each  one  was  right 
in  his  preconceived  opinion.  Whitfield,  the  pre- 
destinarian,  was  sure  his  brother,  Wesley,  the 
staunch  Arminian,  was  entirely  wrong.  From 
the  same  book  and  the  same  words  proceed  all 
this  confusion  of  tongues  which  has  changed  our 
Zion  into  a  perfect  babel  of  discord.  From  the 
same  holy  revelation  proceed  party  wrangling, 
sectarian  strife,  and  bitterness,  with  all  the  sad 
weakness  and  disintegration  which  cause  the 
enemy  to  blaspheme  and  so  greatly  mar  and 
hamper  the  onward  progress  of  God's  blessed 
work  in  the  world. 

There  never  was  a  time  when  an  interpreter 
of  the  Book  itself  was  more  needed  as  in  the 
days  of  the  Ethiopian  Eunuch.  **Howreadest 
thou?"  is  a  question  second  only  in  importance, 
if  indeed  it  is  second,  to  what  is  written.  Upon 
**how"  we  read  the  same  book  and  the  same 

70 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

words  will  very  largely  depend  the  value  of  what 
we  read. 

Can  any  one,  we  ask,  seriously  believe  that 
the  present  state  of  Christendom,  as  we  now 
behold  it,  is  according  to  the  divine  will  and 
purpose?  Can  any  one  claim  that  what  we  see 
before  our  very  eyes  is  in  harmony  with  that 
great  high-priestly  appeal  of  the  Master  who 
prayed  that  His  Disciples  might  be  one  in 
order  that  the  world  might  believe  that  God 
had  sent  Him? 

It  is  natiural  for  us  to  inquire  whether  there 
is  any  sane,  reasonable  Scriptural  theory 
whereby  a  means  of  escape  from  the  present 
unhappy  confusion  can  be  secured.  Is  the 
**  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone  "  theory  the  one  only 
hope  of  relief?  Was  the  Bible  ever  intended  to 
be  alone  our  guide  through  the  ages?  Was  it 
ever  designed  that  it  should  be  studied  and  read 
alone,  and  quite  apart  from  the  divine  society, 
or  mystical  body — the  Church — ^which  gave  us 
the  Bible?  For  the  due  consideration  of  this 
question  let  us  now  ask,  What  is  the  true  rela- 
tion of  the  Bible  to  the  Church? 

We  answer  that  the  Church  is  the  divine 
witness  and  keeper  and  interpreter  of  the  Word 

71 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

of  God.  Most  people  think  of  the  Church  as 
founded  on  the  Bible.  As  a  matter  of  histor- 
ical fact,  the  Church  which  our  Lord  established 
was  here  long  before  the  Bible.  First  the 
Church  came,  and  then  the  Bible.  First  the 
divine  society,  then  an  account  of  its  progress 
and  work.  First  the  witness,  then  the  writing. 
First  the  messenger,  then  the  message.  First 
the  agent,  then  the  agencies  and  helpers.  We 
cannot  too  clearly  understand  that  this  is  the 
divine  order  as  history  records  it.  The  Church 
was  actively  at  work  for  more  than  twenty  years 
before  one  line  of  the  New  Testament  was 
written.  The  earliest  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, the  first  and  second  Epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians,  were  not  written  until  a  score 
of  years  after  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  which  was 
the  birthday  of  the  Christian  Church.  As  to 
the  four  Gospels,  the  earliest  was  not  committed 
to  writing  before  the  year  of  our  Lord  65. 
Before  the  New  Testament  was  finished  the 
Church  had  been  at  work  for  fifty  years,  and 
had  gathered  thousands  of  souls,  a  great  flock 
of  baptized  and  confirmed  communicants,  into 
its  bosom.  More  than  three  hundred  years  had 
passed  before  the  Church  decided  out  of  many 

72 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

writings  and  copies  and  manuscripts,  all  claim- 
ing to  be  inspired,  what  books  should  make  up 
the  New  Testament.  What  is  the  Bible  ?  The 
New  Testament  contains  the  writings  of  holy- 
men  testifying  to  certain  facts  about  the  life 
and  teaching  of  the  Master.  The  New  Testa- 
ment gives  in  part  a  history  of  what  Christ  said 
and  did,  and  it  imparts  religious  teaching  and 
exhortation,  based  on  His  life  and  work.  The 
Bible  is  a  book  written  in  the  Church,  and  for 
the  Church,  and  by  the  Church,  and  to  the 
Church.  So  the  Church  came  first,  and  then 
the  New  Testament,  written  for  and  to  its  own 
members.  The  Bible  was  never  intended  to 
stand  solitary  and  alone  and  apart  from  the 
Church  which  wrote  it.  It  is  the  word  of  God, 
the  account  of  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  the  product  of  the  Church.  The  Church, 
through  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
created  it.  As  the  Church  wrote  the  Bible 
and  gave  us  the  Bible,  so  the  Church  is  the 
natural  and  logical  interpreter  of  the  meaning 
of  the  Bible.  To  say  this  is  not  to  disparage 
the  Holy  Scriptiures  by  exalting  the  Church. 
They  belong  together.  They  are  one  great 
revelation.    They  constitute  the  double  witness 

73 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

and  complete  deposit  from  God.  To  go  to  the 
Church  for  the  meaning  of  the  Bible  is  to  put 
both  Church  and  Holy  Scripture  in  their  true 
historical  place  and  perspective.  We  do  not 
disparage  a  publication  because  we  exalt  the 
society  which  issues  the  publication. 

Rather  we  honor  the  one  by  exalting  the  other. 
Thus,  when  we  say  that  the  Creed  interprets 
the  Bible,  we  do  not  disparage  the  Bible  because 
we  exalt  the  Creed,  any  more  than  we  disparage 
the  Church  when  we  say  that  the  Bible  proves 
the  Creed.  Take  the  Virgin  Birth  as  a  single 
illustration.  Are  we  to  believe  that  our  blessed 
Lord  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary?  Church 
and  Bible  give  the  same  reply.  The  Church 
taught  it  before  the  Bible  recorded  it.  The 
Bible  recorded  it  because  the  Church  taught  it. 
For  us  Churchmen  the  matter  is  authoritatively 
settled  once  for  all  by  the  Apostles*  Creed,  as 
proved  by  the  New  Testament. 

The  sad  delusion  and  historical  error  of  sup- 
posing that  the  Chiurch  is  built  on  the  Scrip- 
tures is  the  root  and  cause  of  all  the  divisions 
and  sects  that  have  sprung  up  and  wrecked  the 
faith  of  multitudes  and  divided  the  Christian 
world  into  many  discordant  factions.    All  the 

74 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

recent  denominations,  the  oldest  of  which  is 
not  more  than  three  htmdred  and  fifty  years 
old,  have  been  founded  on  the  modern  notion 
that  any  one  can  set  up  a  Church  based  on  some 
text  or  some  view  of  the  Bible.  We  Church- 
men rejoice  that  our  Church,  the  Church  of  the 
Apostles,  the  Church  of  history,  does  not  rest 
upon  the  Bible,  but  that  the  Bible  rests  upon 
the  Church.  The  Church  is  a  divine  institu- 
tion, bom  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  long  before 
a  line  of  the  New  Testament  was  written.  The 
New  Testament  is  the  work  of  the  Apostolic 
Church.  The  Church  is  the  depository  of  the 
faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  Saints,  and 
enshrined  in  the  word  of  God.  The  Bible 
proves  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  and  bears 
witness  to  the  practice  of  the  Church.  The 
Church  teaches  nothing  as  necessary  to  salva- 
tion which  cannot  be  proved  by  the  clear 
testimony  of  Holy  Scripture.  Therefore  the 
Church  is  the  custodian  and  interpreter  of  the 
word  of  God,  as  it  alone,  guided  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  has  given  us  that  word,  and  passed  upon 
the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  every  book 
of  the  Bible. 

In  the  movement  now  happily  going  on  in 
75 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

behalf  of  Christian  unity  we  may  be  sure  that 
our  Church's  appeal  to  the  practice  of  the  primi- 
tive Church,  as  it  has  come  down  the  ages,  with 
the  Bible  bearing  witness  to  the  truth  of  its 
teaching,  will  of  necessity  be  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple of  the  great  reconciliation  for  which  so 
many  of  Christ's  disciples,  in  all  the  chiu-ches, 
are  so  earnestly  praying. 

Not  the  Bible  apart  from  the  Church — the 
one  body  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  that 
priceless  record — ^but  the  Bible  and  the  Church, 
is  destined  to  be  the  rallying  cry  of  the  future. 
As  inevitably  all  men  must  go  to  the  Church 
to  determine  what  is  the  Bible  and  whence  it 
came,  so  too,  sooner  or  later,  led  by  the  spirit 
of  God,  men  will  seek  in  the  authentic  records 
of  the  primitive  Church  the  true  answer  to 
the  many  questions  now  dividing  the  Christian 
world. 

To  accept  the  Chtirch's  guidance  and  au- 
thority and  verdict  in  recognizing  the  contents 
and  the  essential  character  of  the  Canon  of 
Holy  Scripture,  and  then  to  refuse  it  any  voice 
whatever  in  its  interpretation,  will  at  last  be 
seen  to  be  both  illogical  and  impossible. 

Be  assiu*ed  that  there  can  be  no  antithesis  be- 
76 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

tween  the  judgments  of  the  Church  in  those 
ages,  when  it  was  still  unimpaired  by  division, 
and  an  honest  and  fearless  criticism  of  the 
sacred  text.  They  hang  together.  The  func- 
tion of  the  Church  is  not  to  add  new  doctrines 
to  the  Apostolic  deposit,  but  to  show  what  the 
Apostolic  deposit  in  the  New  Testament  really 
does  contain. 

The  Christian  revelation  was,  in  fact,  com- 
mitted not  only  to  the  pages  of  the  Sacred  Book, 
but  to  the  guardianship  of  the  sacred  society; 
and  the  second  factor  can  just  as  little  be  dis- 
pensed with  as  the  first.  If  the  Church  may 
not  contradict  or  exceed  the  teaching  of  the 
Book,  the  true  authority  and  import  of  the  Book 
cannot  be  long  upheld,  as  we  now  begin  to 
realize,  apart  from  that  illuminated  conscious- 
ness of  the  Church  which  originally  bequeathed 
it  to  us  and  certified  it  as  being  the  word  of  God. 


IX 

THE   CHURCH   AND  PUBLIC  WORSHIP 

IT  is  the  peculiar  blessing  of  our  branch  of 
the  Church  Catholic  to  have  inherited  from 
our  Fathers  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  a 
rich  treasury  of  devotion  as  a  medium  of  public 
worship.  Christianity  is  a  social  religion,  and 
from  its  earliest  days,  by  an  irresistible  impulse 
of  the  human  heart,  those  tmited  to  our  blessed 
Lord,  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  faith,  have 
been  led  to  express  their  loyalty  by  meeting 
together  in  a  common  worship.  Indeed,  in 
obedience  to  this  natural  instinct,  the  great 
temple  at  Jerusalem  was  erected  as  a  place  of 
public  worship.  It  was  built  by  the  express 
command  of  God,  who  condescended  to  give 
most  careful  specifications  as  to  its  construc- 
tion, equipment,  its  furnishings,  and  its  altar. 
Our  Lord  Himself  was  a  frequent  worshipper 
in  its  courts,  and  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  the 

78 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

service  found  expression  in  the  use  of  the  Psalms, 
which  form  an  important  part  of  our  prayer- 
book  service  to-day. 

Our  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  with  its  beau- 
tiful liturgy,  has  come  down  to  us  through 
nineteen  centuries  of  Christian  devotion.  It  is 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  best  ages 
of  Christian  manhood  and  saintly  living.  It  is 
so  arranged  that  all  the  people,  high  and  low, 
rich  and  poor,  can  take  their  part  in  its  prayers 
and  praises,  its  hymns  and  spiritual  songs. 

More  and  more  parts  of  the  prayer-book  are 
being  used  by  other  Christian  bodies.  Our 
burial  service,  our  Communion  service,  our 
marriage  service,  our  Te  Deum,  our  Creed,  oiu* 
Gloria  in  Excelsis  are  surely  making  their  way 
into  the  hearts  and  lives  of  Christian  people 
of  all  names. 

If  we  had  no  Book  of  Common  Prayer  we 
shoidd  still  have  the  Chiu'ch  with  her  faith  and 
ministry,  her  Sacraments,  and  the  word  of  God. 
But  then  we  should  be  deprived  of  a  priceless 
heritage.  We  love  the  prayer-book  for  the 
sanity  of  its  religion,  the  beauty  of  its  worship, 
the  breadth  and  freedom  of  its  spiritual  fervor. 
It  aims  at  the  conversion  of  the  soul,  the  sancti- 

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A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

fication  of  the  heart  to  the  glad  and  grateful 
service  of  God.  It  teaches  us  that  religion  is 
a  life,  and  not  a  sudden  experience  of  ecstatic 
rapture.  We  are  reminded  that  if  we  continue 
in  His  word,  then  are  we  Christ's  disciples  in- 
deed. The  Church  engrafts  us  by  Holy  Bap- 
tism into  the  Kingdom  of  light  and  love,  she 
guides  our  tender  years  with  watchful  care,  and 
brings  us  to  the  grace  of  confirmation,  with  its 
sevenfold  gifts,  that  we  may  be  strengthened 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  She  feeds  us  at  the  altar 
on  the  Heavenly  food  of  the  blessed  Sacrament; 
she  blesses  us  as  we  solemnly  pledge  our  troth, 
one  to  the  other,  in  Holy  Matrimony;  she  fol- 
lows us  through  all  the  changes  and  chances  of 
this  checkered  life,  and  then,  **When  the  busy 
world  is  hushed,  and  the  fever  of  life  is  over, 
and  our  work  is  done,"  she  pronounces  over  us 
her  words  of  hope  and  immortality. 

Our  prayer-book  is  called  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer.  This  title  is  significant  of  the  fact 
that  the  Church  intends  that  all  the  people 
shall  take  part  in  the  service.  The  worship  of 
God  is  to  be  shared  in  by  all  the  congregation. 
To  make  this  possible  the  language  is  our  own 
native  tongue,  in  which  the  worshippers  may 

80 


A    BISHOP    AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

all  heartily  join  with  intelligence  and  under- 
standing. 

We  need  hardly  remind  our  own  people  that 
the  use  of  a  prayer-book,  or  following  a  pre- 
scribed form  of  worship,  is  one  of  the  charac- 
teristics which  distinguish  us  as  a  Church  from 
many  of  our  Christian  brethren  by  whom  we  are 
surrounded.  The  authority  for  forms  of  prayer 
in  public  worship  has  the  highest  possible 
sanction.  When  our  Lord  was  asked  by  His 
Disciples  to  teach  them  how  to  pray  it  is  note- 
worthy that  He  gave  them  a  form  familiarly 
known  to  the  Christian  world  as  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  His  own  imprimatur  was  then  and 
there  placed  on  the  principle  of  a  preconceived 
form  of  prayer.  It  is  popularly  supposed  that 
our  Lord  composed  this  prayer,  or  evolved  it, 
as  it  were,  from  His  own  spiritual  consciousness. 
But  His  example  derives  additional  power  and 
significance  for  us  all  when  we  remember  that 
such  was  by  no  means  the  fact,  but  that  our  Lord 
took  that  prayer  almost  bodily  from  the  familiar 
prayer-book  service,  or  liturgy,  of  the  Jewish 
Church,  of  which  He  was  a  devout  member  and 
whose  temple  services  He  habitually  frequented. 
He,  therefore,  not  only  gave  His  Disciples  a 
6  8i 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

form  of  prayer,  but  commended  to  them  a  par- 
ticular form  with  which  they  were  already 
more  or  less  familiar,  and  indorsed  thereby  the 
usage  of  a  prayer-book  for  public  worship.  It 
is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Jewish  prayer-book 
still  extant  was  constantly  used  by  our  Lord 
when  He  attended  the  synagogue  worship.  An 
important  part  of  that  service  was  the  use  of 
the  Psalms  of  David,  itself  an  inspired  prayer- 
book,  which  the  Christian  Church  most  wisely 
embodied  in  its  liturgies.  Many  of  these  Psalms 
are  really  prayers,  and  none  the  less  acceptable 
to  Him,  we  may  be  sure,  because  precomposed. 
Indeed,  it  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  answer 
to  any  objecting  to  precomposed  forms  of 
prayer  for  Christian  people  to  be  reminded  that 
very  many  of  our  noblest  hymns  in  which  the 
soul  finds  expression  for  its  most  fervent  devo- 
tion are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  forms  of 
prayer  printed  in  a  book.  For  instance, 
*' Jesus,  Lover  of  my  soul,"  ''Rock  of  Ages 
cleft  for  me,"  "Son  of  my  soul,  Thou  Saviour 
dear,"  "Abide  with  me,"  and  many  another 
hymn  so  dear  to  our  hearts  will  readily  occur 
to  us  as  examples.  These  inspiring  and  up- 
lifting petitions  to  God  are  none  the  less  pre- 

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A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

composed  forms  of  prayer  because  they  are 
written  in  meter,  set  to  music,  and  sung. 

Happily  for  us  and  for  the  spiritual  comfort 
and  edification  of  the  Christian  world,  it  seems 
no  longer  necessary  to  argue  for  the  propriety 
of  a  reverent  and  dignified  worship.  The  preju- 
dices which  once  so  generally  existed  against  the 
use  of  a  form  of  worship  have  of  recent  years 
been  rapidly  passing  away.  As  we  have  al- 
ready intimated,  nearly  all  the  Churches  are 
now  using  parts  of  the  prayer-book  and  other 
forms  of  public  worship  of  their  own.  They 
have  learned  by  experience  that  if  the  people  are 
to  take  part,  if  the  worship  is  in  reality  to  be 
common  worship,  it  must  be  provided  for 
beforehand.  To  allow  an  individual  minister 
to  supply  the  words  and  thoughts  of  united 
intercourse  with  God  is  clearly  to  defeat  the 
great  object  of  our  assembling  together.  For 
what  alone  is  the  most  worthy  purpose  of  going 
to  Church?  Not,  surely,  simply  to  hear  the 
sermon,  helpful  and  inspiring  though  it  may  be. 
Is  it  not  rather  to  render  thanks  for  the  great 
benefits  that  we  have  received  at  God's  hands, 
to  set  forth  His  most  worthy  praise,  to  hear  His 
most  holy  word,  and  to  ask  those  things  which 

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A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

are  requisite  and  necessary  as  well  for  the  body- 
as  the  soul?  The  law  of  liberty  so  dear  to 
American  people  is  more  and  more  demanding 
that  in  the  matter  of  public  worship,  at  least,  the 
congregation  shall  not  be  delivered  up,  as  it 
were,  into  the  hands  of  one  man,  for  in  this  way 
the  uncontrolled  liberty  of  the  minister  becomes 
the  slavery  of  the  people.  Of  course,  the 
minister  who  conducts  the  services  in  Churches 
where  there  is  no  form  of  worship  or  liturgy 
will  pray  in  the  name  of  all  and  ask  for  things 
of  which  all  are  supposed  to  have  need.  But, 
still,  what  he  prays  for  will  be  his  own,  though 
it  may  be  to  a  certain  extent  silently  adopted  by 
the  congregation.  Both  thoughts  and  words 
of  such  a  minister  are  assumed  to  be  his  own, 
assumed,  indeed,  to  be  the  unpremeditated 
effusion  of  his  own  brain  at  the  moment,  for  it  is 
supposed  to  be  extempore.  Every  sentence 
must  reflect  his  own  individuality  and  be  tinc- 
tured with  his  own  views. 

Such  a  system  may  have  its  advantages,  but 
it  is  evident  that  all  will  depend  on  the  personal 
gifts,  spiritual  and  mental,  of  the  individual 
pastor.  The  devotional  part  of  the  service  will 
be  edifying,  on  the  contrary,  according  as  he  who 

84 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

needs  it  has  facility  of  expression  and  a  wise 
discrimination,  or  lacks  these  qualities. 

We  Churchmen,  on  the  other  hand,  know  in 
advance  what  prayers  and  praises  are  to  be 
offered  up,  and  the  congregation  by  their  pres- 
ence, deportment,  and  responses  are  supposed 
to  concur.  Moreover,  opportunities  are  given 
at  every  turn  for  the  congregation  to  assert  its 
rights  as  *' priests  of  God,"  and  to  take  actual 
and  audible  part  in  the  service.  They  offer  up 
the  general  confession  and  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
wherever  it  occurs,  with  the  minister.  With 
him  they  stand  and  jointly  give  expression  to 
their  faith  in  repeating  the  Creeds.  They  take 
their  share  in  the  daily  Psalms  of  the  Psalter  by 
reading  as  a  congregation  each  alternate  verse. 
In  cathedrals  and  places  where  the  Psalms  are 
chanted  this  part  of  divine  worship  is  rendered 
almost  solely  by  the  congregation  or  laity,  the 
priest  joining  only  as  one  of  the  worshippers.  So 
it  is,  moreover,  with  such  exalted  acts  of  praise 
as  the  *'Te  Deum,"  ** Magnificat,"  and  *'Bene- 
dictus." 

The  Litany  is  thrown  into  its  present  form 
in  order  to  give  as  much  opportunity  as  possible 
for  response  on  the  part  of  the  assembled  wor- 

85 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

shippers.  The  use  of  short  Collects  rather  than 
long  prayers  affords  frequent  occasion  for  the 
congregation  to  join  in  by  their  hearty  and 
solemn  *'Amens,*'  for  there  is  scarcely  a  prayer 
throughout  the  service  the  reading  of  which, 
slowly  and  reverently,  requires  more  than  one 
minute  of  time.  This  arrangement  tends  to 
keep  the  attention  fixed  and  to  carry  the  peo- 
ple sympathetically  along  with  the  petitions 
offered. 

The  very  Commandments  seem  to  be  read 
chiefly  with  the  view  to  eliciting  the  response 
after  each,  and  to  encourage  us  to  ask  God*s 
mercy  for  our  sins  past,  and  grace  to  keep  each 
law  for  the  time  to  come.  Above  all,  it  is  the 
congregation  rather  than  the  minister  who 
offer  up  the  most  solemn  sacrifices  of  praise  in 
the  whole  prayer-book  —  namely,  the  *'Holy, 
Holy,  Holy,"  or  the  triumphal  hymn  in  Holy 
Communion,  as  well  as  the  **  Gloria  in  Excelsis" 
in  the  same  solemn  service. 

So  that  the  prayer-book  is  in  the  strictest 
sense  what  it  professes  to  be,  the  book  of  com- 
mon prayer,  because  it  is  the  common  expres- 
sion of  devotion,  not  of  an  individual,  but  of  the 
whole  assembly,  and  also  because,  by  reponse 

86 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

or  repetition  after  the  minister,  the  congrega- 
tion is  expected  to  use  it  in  common. 

Of  course  we  recognize  that  there  is  a  place 
for  extempore  prayer,  and  in  nothing  that  we 
have  said  would  we  be  imderstood  as  depreciat- 
ing its  importance.  We  have  been  speaking  of 
public  worship;  and,  while  occasions  may  and 
do  arise  in  the  Church  service  where  extempore 
prayers  may  be  used  to  edification,  it  is  evident 
that  the  place  where  we  pour  out  our  hearts 
to  God  for  pardon  or  relief,  as  individuals,  is 
in  the  privacy  of  our  own  closet,  and  in  the 
sacredness  of  our  own  personal  confession  of 
sin  and  sorrow.  As  we  kneel  alone  before  our 
Maker,  "Prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire, 
uttered  or  unexpressed,"  and  often  our  hearts 
can  interpret  our  needs  when  our  tongues  can- 
not find  words  in  which  to  express  them. 

While  as  Churchmen  we  may  always  de- 
pend on  finding,  in  whatever  particular  house  of 
worship  we  happen  to  be,  the  same  form  of 
sound  words  provided  by  the  prayer-book, 
whether  at  the  Holy  Communion  or  at  morning 
or  evening  prayer,  much  liberty  is  allowed  as 
to  the  method  of  rendering  the  service.  In  the 
exercise  of  this  lawful  liberty  there  is  more  or 

87 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

less  variety.  In  some  churches  we  shall  find 
the  prayers  and  sometimes  even  the  chants 
simply  read;  in  others  they  may  be  sung  or 
intoned.  In  one  church  there  may  be  but  little 
music  beyond  a  few  simple  hymns  and  chants; 
in  others  we  shall  find  that  a  part,  or  perhaps 
the  entire  service,  is  stmg  or  rendered  chorally. 
Again,  in  the  postures  and  vestments  of  the 
clergy,  in  the  ceremonial  parts  of  the  service, 
as  well  as  in  the  ornaments  and  decorations  of 
the  altar  and  sanctuary,  we  may  meet  in  some 
churches  more  form  and  ritual  than  in  others. 
It  will  conduce  to  our  spiritual  peace  and  com- 
fort to  remember  that  such  differences  are  en- 
tirely allowable  and  strictly  within  the  law; 
indeed,  that  the  Church  has  most  wisely  left 
to  the  individual  rector  and  his  congregation 
the  privilege  of  ordering  such  a  service  as  may 
be  most  in  accordance  with  their  sense  of  pro- 
priety. These  things  are  non-essential,  and 
largely  matters  of  taste.  The  Apostolic  in- 
junction that  all  things  shall  be  done  decently 
and  in  order  is  all  that  we  have  the  right  to 
insist  upon. 

A  church  intended  for  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  should  give  free  scope  for  the  exercise  of 

88 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

varying  tastes.  We  should  remember  that  just 
because  the  Church  is  CathoHc  in  her  spirit 
she  must  give  a  glad  welcome  and  cordial  hos- 
pitality to  differing  views  in  matters  not  of  the 
essence  of  the  faith. 

This  spirit  of  toleration  toward  different 
forms  of  expressing  our  religious  emotions  is 
especially  incimibent  on  a  church  Hke  oiu:  own 
that  stands  for  Christian  unity.  Already  we 
are  receiving  into  our  communion  and  fellow- 
ship thousands  of  strangers  and  foreigners 
whose  religious  antecedents  are  quite  different 
from  our  own.  They  must  be  made  to  feel 
at  home  under  the  protection  of  the  Church's 
liberty.  Moreover,  the  freedom  we  naturally 
desire  for  ourselves  in  these  non-essentials  we 
should  be  glad  and  ready  to  extend  to  our 
brethren.  A  good  motto  is,  **In  essentials 
unity;  in  non-essentials  liberty;  in  all  things 
charity." 


THE    IDEAL   LAYMAN 

IT  is  not  easy  to  draw  a  portrait  of  the  ideal 
layman  which  does  him  adequate  justice. 
We  are  devoutly  thankful  that  his  tribe  is 
rapidly  increasing.  There  is  but  little  difficulty 
in  recognizing  him.  In  outward  circumstances 
and  conditions  he  may  differ  from  his  brother, 
who  is  also  an  ideal  layman,  but  the  same  spirit 
animates  him  wherever  he  is  found. 

Our  ideal  layman,  then,  is  first  of  all  a  man  of 
God.  He  has  experienced  God's  love  and  par- 
don, and  to  him  the  claims  of  religion  are  always 
paramount.  His  heart  has  been  touched  by  the 
unspeakable  love  and  sacrifice  of  the  Saviour 
in  dying  for  him  on  the  cross,  and  his  intelligence 
has  been  fascinated  by  the  unique  life  and 
imperishable  words  of  the  Master,  which  have 
appealed  to  all  that  is  noblest  and  best  in  his 
nature.     For  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  Son  of  God, 

90 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

he  has  conceived  a  passionate  devotion,  and  he 
has  surrendered  to  him  the  homage  of  his  soul. 
Henceforth  no  one  can  doubt  that  our  layman's 
life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

Again,  our  ideal  layman  is  an  intelligent 
Churchman,  and  he  therefore  loves  the  Church 
with  a  loyalty  that  governs  and  controls  and 
touches  and  molds  his  life  in  all  directions. 
The  Church  is  his  spiritual  mother.  Her 
Scriptural  faith  and  Apostolic  order,  her  life- 
giving  Sacraments,  her  reverent  and  devout 
worship,  her  Christian  year,  her  eventful  his- 
tory connecting  him  with  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Apostles — all  this  rich  heritage  not  only  appeals 
to  his  imagination,  but  commands  the  allegiance 
of  his  whole  heart. 

But  just  because  our  ideal  layman  is  so  strong 
in  his  convictions  as  a  Churchman,  and  is  so 
able  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him, 
and  is  so  grateful  that  God  has  called  him  into 
the  communion  and  fellowship  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  we  find  that  he  loves  all  men  who 
acknowledge  Christ  as  God  and  Savioiir.  His 
attitude  toward  all  who  love  Christ  in  sincerity 
is  ever  fraternal  and  kindly.  He  makes  allow- 
ance for  the  accidents  of  birth  and  education  and 

91 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS   FLOCK 

environment  which  go  so  far  to  explain  the  dif- 
ferences which  separate  Christian  men  to-day. 
He  loves  to  dwell  on  the  points  of  agreement  in 
the  great  fundamentals  between  the  Church  and 
other  religious  bodies  and  to  minimize  the  dif- 
ference in  things  not  vital.  In  this  tender 
regard  for  the  opinion  of  others  our  ideal  layman 
shows  himself  a  Christian  gentleman,  careful  to 
avoid  all  occasion  of  giving  offense,  and  con- 
siderate of  the  prejudices  of  others,  while  en- 
deavoring to  have  an  open  mind  himself. 

In  his  Christian  life  and  behavior  he  impresses 
you  as  a  man  who  finds  great  happiness  and 
comfort  and  peace  in  his  religion.  He  recalls 
Saint  Paul's  injunction  to  *' rejoice  in  the  Lord 
always,  and  again  I  say  rejoice."  He  is  a  cheer- 
ful Christian,  and  it  is  an  essential  part  of  his 
creed  that  if  any  man  has  a  right  to  be  happy 
it  is  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  his  in- 
fluence radiates  and  spreads  like  a  contagion 
and  warms  and  cheers  and  helps  all  who  are 
brought  in  contact  with  him.  He  is  often  a 
robust  and  manly  personality,  and  is  very  far 
removed  from  your  type  of  namby-pamby  or 
goody-goody  Christians.  He  possesses  a  charm 
which  makes  him  a  companion  to  men  as  men. 

92 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

He  is  not  averse  to  innocent  pleasures  or  games 
or  outdoor  exercises.  He  loves  nature,  and  sees 
in  our  beautiful  world  unmistakable  evidence 
of  the  handiwork  of  God.  To  him  the  sunset 
and  the  hills  and  valleys,  the  flowers  and  the 
waving  fields  of  golden  grain,  speak  eloquently 
of  the  loving  care  and  providence  of  the  All- 
Father,  who  hath  made  all  things  good. 

But  it  is  in  his  home  that  you  shall  see  our 
ideal  layman  in  his  truest  character.  In  the 
sanctuary  of  the  family  circle  he  is  a  genial 
presence.  His  children  learn  to  love  God,  not 
because  their  father  is  always  telling  them  to  do 
so,  but  because  they  discern  instinctively  how 
lovable  and  bright  and  attractive  a  thing  religion 
is  as  seen  in  his  daily  life  among  them. 

Our  ideal  layman  sometimes  has  a  little 
sanctuary  for  prayer  and  worship  in  his  home, 
and  occasionally  one  finds  an  altar  there  around 
which  he  gathers  his  dear  ones  for  praise  and 
intercession.  The  simple  grace  at  meals  and 
many  another  act  of  devotion  make  it  evident 
that  our  layman  lives  constantly  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  habitual  dependence  on  God. 

He  is  always  a  trusted  friend  of  his  rector, 
whoever  the  rector  may  be.     He  never  speaks 

93 


A    BISHOP  AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  his  clergyman  in  terms  other  than  those  of 
affection  mingled  with  reverence  for  his  sacred 
office.  He  would  be  shocked  to  hear  a  word  of 
flippant  criticism  or  unkindly  disparagement 
uttered  in  his  presence  about  a  priest  of  God. 
He  observes  the  same  attitude  of  reverence 
about  the  Bible,  the  Sacraments,  the  house  of 
God,  and  all  holy  things.  It  is  sometimes 
noticed  that  when  he  passes  a  church  he  removes 
his  hat.  You  would  hardly  observe  it  unless  your 
attention  had  been  drawn  to  it.  If,  as  is  often 
the  case,  our  ideal  layman  is  the  warden  of  the 
parish  or  a  member  of  the  vestry,  every  one  who 
knows  him  soon  learns  that  he  feels  highly 
honored  to  hold  such  a  place  of  confidence  and 
sacred  trust.  He  keeps  every  engagement  to 
attend  vestry  meetings  and  to  discharge  his 
official  duty  in  the  Church,  allowing  nothing  to 
interfere.  Sometimes,  like  Mr.  Gladstone,  with 
the  Bishop's  license,  he  reads  the  lessons  at 
morning  and  evening  prayer,  and  he  performs 
this  duty  with  such  reverent  demeanor  and 
simplicity  as  to  make  it  obvious  that  he  appre- 
ciates it  as  a  high  privilege.  He  is  most  con- 
scientious in  his  almsgiving.  If  he  is  possessed 
of  large  means  it  will  be  found  that  he  gives, 

94 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

always  unostentatiously,  according  to  his  abil- 
ity. If  he  has  little,  he  will  give  gladly  of  that 
little. 

He  is  most  careful  to  see  that  all  matters  per- 
taining to  the  salary  of  his  rector  are  delicately 
and  properly  attended  to.  He  realizes,  and 
tries  by  his  influence  to  make  all  the  people  feel 
that  whatever  is  given  for  this  purpose  is  at 
best  a  meager  and  inadequate  recognition  to 
God  for  all  the  spiritual  gifts,  above  money 
and  above  price,  received  through  His  ordained 
ambassador. 

He  knows  also  and  rejoices  in  the  fact  that 
his  parish  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  great  Church 
to  which  we  all  belong.  He  sees  in  the  diocese, 
presided  over  by  his  Bishop,  the  unifying  bond 
which  connects  him,  first,  with  his  own  national 
Church,  and  through  that  with  the  great 
Catholic  body  throughout  the  world.  He  may 
therefore  always  be  counted  upon  as  a  loyal 
supporter  of  the  Bishop  in  all  his  efforts  through- 
out the  diocese,  to  extend  the  Church  and 
build  up  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  places 
where  it  needs  to  be  helped  and  strengthened. 
In  other  words,  he  is  out-and-out  a  missionary, 
and  one  of  his  strongest  convictions  is  that  every 

95 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

converted  man  and  woman  is,  in  spirit  at  least, 
a  missionary.  He  may  not  go  in  person  to 
China  or  Japan,  or  Africa  or  the  PhiHppines, 
to  carry  the  Gospel  thither,  but  through  his 
prayers  and  gifts  and  sympathetic  interests  he 
is  fully  identified  with  the  missionary  cause  at 
home  and  abroad. 

His  chief  reason  and  encouragement  in  help- 
ing on  the  cause  of  diocesan  missions  is  that 
the  diocese  may  constantly  become  stronger  and 
more  able  to  help  in  carrying  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  the  Gospel  of  peace  throughout  the 
world.  He  would  be  greatly  mortified  to  be- 
long to  a  parish  that  did  not  meet  promptly 
its  apportionments  for  diocesan  and  general 
missions,  and  as  a  vestryman  he  sees  to  it  that 
these  obligations  are  placed  on  the  budget  as 
a  sacred  part  of  the  parish  work. 

He  welcomes  every  opportunity  to  have  the 
people  educated  to  take  a  personal  interest  in 
what  he  considers  the  great  work  for  which 
Christ,  the  first  Missionary,  came  down  from 
Heaven — ^namely,  the  work  of  making  known 
the  love  of  God  by  proclaiming  the  Gospel  of 
peace  and  reconciliation. 

It  is  a  delight  to  see  our  ideal  layman  when 
96 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Sunday  comes.  He  begins  the  happy  day  by 
making  his  early  communion  at  the  quiet  morn- 
ing hour  when  the  world  is  hushed  and  the 
voice  of  God  is  so  distinctly  audible.  He  says 
he  loves  this  service  above  all  others.  It  seems 
to  him  such  a  privilege  thus  to  meet  his  Lord 
in  this  Blessed  Sacrament  of  love.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  great  joy  to  him  that  the  number  of  those 
who  come  to  this  early  service  is  constantly 
increasing.  It  probably  has  never  occurred  to 
him  that  his  own  example  of  faithful  and  never- 
failing  regularity  of  attendance  has  brought 
about  this  gratifying  change. 

At  morning  and  evening  prayer  he  is  always 
in  his  place.  It  often  happens  that  strangers 
are  in  the  pew  of  our  ideal  layman,  for  he  is 
a  man  much  given  to  hospitality,  and  his  friends 
never  fail  to  accompany  him  and  his  family  to 
the  house  of  God.  He  does  not  belong  to  that 
class  of  Churchmen  whom  Mr.  Gladstone  was 
wont  to  describe  as  "oncers,"  for  his  constant 
presence  at  evening  prayer  bears  witness  to 
his  love  for  the  Church's  worship.  This  matter 
of  attending  the  prescribed  services  is  not  only 
a  question  of  taste,  it  has  become  a  principle, 
and  to  him  it  is  a  test  of  loyalty.  He  thus  sets 
7  97 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

an  example  to  all  in  the  community,  young  and 
old,  of  a  man  who  finds  in  public  worship  not 
only  an  opportunity  to  do  his  duty,  but  an 
occasion  of  privilege  and  delight. 

But  we  have  by  no  means  completed  the 
program  of  our  layman's  Sunday.  That  which 
to  him  is  one  of  the  most  enjoyable  features  of 
the  day  yet  remains  to  be  told.  He  knows  that 
no  part  of  the  Church's  work  is  more  important 
or  dearer  to  the  Heart  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
than  the  lambs  of  the  Fold,  and  so  we  find  our 
ideal  layman  the  superintendent  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, and  he  has  had  that  honor  for 
many  years.  He  may  be  a  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  or  a  United  States  Senator,  or  a 
great  banker,  or  the  chief  merchant  of  the  city, 
and  so  his  presence  in  the  Sunday-school  makes 
it  easier  for  the  rector  to  secure  teachers  among 
the  men  and  women  of  the  parish.  It  is  an 
honor  to  be  asked  to  take  a  class  in  a  Sunday- 
school  where  such  a  man  is  superintendent. 
If  our  layman  is  sent  to  the  General  Conven- 
tion, or  to  the  convention  of  his  own  diocese, 
he  carries  to  the  Counsels  of  the  Church  the 
same  keen  interest  and  intelligent  sympathy 
that  makes  him  such  a  power  in  his  own  parish. 

98 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

He  is  a  very  busy  man,  carrying  often  heavy 
responsibilities  as  a  lawyer  or  doctor  or  man  of 
affairs,  and  might  be  thought  entitled  to  his 
Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest.  But  he  will  tell  you 
that  he  finds  Sunday  not  only  a  day  of  physical 
rest  and  refreshment,  but  an  inspiration  and 
help  for  the  coming  week.  Indeed,  this  lay- 
man takes  care  that  Sunday  shall  find  him  ready 
both  in  body  and  soul  for  the  congenial  work 
that  awaits  him. 

The  ideal  layman  takes  a  pride  in  seeing 
that  the  chtuch  and  rectory,  and  the  parish- 
house,  and  all  the  property  and  grounds  of 
the  church  are  kept  in  perfect  order.  He  feels 
that  nothing  can  be  too  beautiful  and  attrac- 
tive for  the  house  of  God,  and  he  sometimes 
wonders  why  men  who  take  care  to  adorn  and 
enrich  their  own  homes  should  allow  the  house 
of  God  to  be  neglected. 

The  rector  finds  this  layman  most  helpful 
in  interesting  people  in  the  Church.  Not  only 
does  he  welcome  the  stranger  when  he  comes 
to  God's  house,  and  make  him  feel  at  home, 
but  he  brings  at  once  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
rector  the  arrival  of  new  families  in  the  parish, 
and  considers  it  his  duty  to  call  on  them  him- 

99 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

self  and  assure  them  how  gladly  they  will  be 
welcomed  at  church. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  such  a 
layman  as  we  have  been  describing  never  fails 
to  give  his  rector  his  hearty  support  in  con- 
ducting the  services  reverently  and  impressively, 
and  that  he  fully  realizes  that  in  all  things 
spiritual  his  clergyman  is  solely  responsible. 

In  short,  without  obtrusiveness,  or  the  least 
semblance  of  officious  domination,  this  good 
layman  wins  friends  for  his  Master,  and  by  his 
example  and  influence  commends  the  Church 
to  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  commtmity. 
In  the  portrait  which  we  have  drawn  of  the 
ideal  layman  we  have  pictured  him  as  some- 
times a  vestryman,  or  officer  in  the  Church,  but 
before  closing  this  chapter  we  wish  to  pay  our 
tribute  of  love,  honor,  and  respect  to  that  large 
body  of  faithful  laymen  who  have  no  office,  but 
serve  in  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Church's  army 
with  rare  devotion  and  fidelity.  They  are  the 
pride  and  backbone  of  every  Church,  and  they 
would  all  join  with  me,  could  they  speak,  in 
thanking  God  that  in  the  good  days  in  which 
we  are  now  living  the  Master  is  calling  into 
His  service  a  constantly  increasing  number  of 

lOO 


A  BISHOP  among*.,h4s..3f1i;<)(?^k:' 

men  whose  influence  in  the  world  of  society  and 
business  count  for  much. 

Our  ideal  layman  has  recently  been  made 
most  happy  that  his  only  son,  who  has  just 
graduated  at  college  with  distinguished  honors, 
has  applied  to  the  bishop  to  be  admitted  a 
candidate  for  Holy  Orders.  In  his  opinion 
there  is  no  calling  on  earth  which  offers  to-day 
such  a  field  of  happy  and  useful  service  to  our 
fellow-men  and  is  so  deserving  of  reverence  and 
honor  as  that  of  a  minister  of  Christ  and  a 
steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God. 


XI 

THE    CLAIMS    OP   THE   MINISTRY   AS   A   VOCATION 

A  RECENT  report  of  the  Committee  on  the 
State  of  the  Church  reveals  the  rather 
alarming  fact  that  during  the  last  three  years 
the  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  has 
actually  fallen  off.  Further  investigation  shows 
that  this  situation  is  not  confined  to  our  own 
commimion,  but  prevails  generally,  with  few 
exceptions,  throughout  the  country.  This  de- 
crease of  men  offering  themselves  for  the  min- 
istry is  the  more  remarkable  when  one  remem- 
bers that  the  need  of  ministers  is  constantly 
increasing,  both  because  of  the  religious  activity 
at  home  and  the  almost  unprecedented  demand 
for  men  in  the  foreign-missionary  field.  This 
latter  demand  has  been  greatly  stimulated  by 
the  opening  up  of  China  and  Japan,  as  well  as 
India,  to  missionary  enterprise  and  the  encour- 
aging reports  from  the  workers  in  the  field. 

102 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Several  reasons  have  been  suggested  as  ex- 
plaining this  rather  strange  shortage  of  young 
men.  Among  them  has  been  mentioned  the 
fact  that  many  of  our  young  men  have  offered 
themselves  as  medical  missionaries  and  teachers, 
and  that  the  volunteer-student  movement  has 
enlisted  hundreds  of  them  as  Christian  workers 
in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 
Again  it  has  been  urged  that  the  enormous  in- 
dustrial activity  of  the  present  time,  with  so 
many  opportunities  of  amassing  wealth  sud- 
denly, has  fascinated  the  imagination  of  our 
yoimg  men  and  left  them  to  invest  their  lives 
in  increasing  numbers  in  commercial  pursuits. 
There  are  those,  moreover,  who  claim  that  our 
best  young  men  have  hesitated  to  give  them- 
selves to  the  ministry  because  of  the  many 
divisions  of  our  American  Christianity,  which 
in  so  many  communities  doom  a  clergyman  to 
the  leadership  of  a  small  congregation  and  cut 
him  off  from  any  wider  field  among  the  people  at 
large.  Once  more  we  are  reminded  that  where- 
as thirty  or  forty  years  ago  there  were  practi- 
cally three  or  four  great  professions  from  which 
a  college  man  could  choose  his  life-work  — 
namely,  the  ministry,  the  law,  medicine,  and 

103 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

perhaps  teaching — ^now  there  are  thirty  or  forty 
caUings,  or  special  Hnes  of  work,  which  beckon 
to  him  and  claim  his  consideration.  We  are 
disposed  to  give  much  weight  to  the  influence 
of  this  very  significant  development  in  our 
modern  life.  In  the  engineering  world  alone 
there  is  mining,  the  various  applications  of 
electricity,  the  railroads,  chemistry  as  applied 
to  many  kinds  of  manufacturing,  and  numerous 
other  avenues  of  activity,  all  more  or  less 
lucrative,  constantly  calling  for  well-equipped 
experts. 

In  response  to  this  demand  from  the  indus- 
trial life  of  the  nation  technical  schools  and 
universities  have  sprung  up,  some  of  them  with 
large  endowments,  whose  chief  aim  is  to  supply 
men  well  trained  to  do  this  specialized  and 
skilled  work. 

All  these  causes  which  we  have  mentioned 
and  many  others  which  might  be  adduced  have 
no  doubt  had  their  effect  in  attracting  into  their 
inviting  fields  of  enterprise  many  young  men 
who  might  otherwise  have  thought  of  the 
ministry  as  a  vocation.  Then  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  a  considerable  number  of 
young  men  desire  to  serve  their  fellow-man, 
104 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

but  do  not  feel  drawn  to  the  ministry.  Indeed, 
they  have  in  many  cases  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  enter  the  min- 
istry in  order  to  express  their  enthusiasm. 
They  find  many  other  avenues  along  which 
they  can  carry  out  their  altruistic  and  philan- 
thropic purposes.  There  is  the  neighborhood 
house,  settlement  work  in  our  large  cities,  em- 
ployment in  large  charitable  organizations,  all  fur- 
nishing a  ready  outlet  to  the  passion  for  service. 
I  do  not  like  to  speak  in  this  connection  of 
the  very  inadquate  financial  compensations 
given  to  the  average  minister  of  the  Gospel. 
This  is  a  disgrace  to  the  cause  and  a  scandal 
which  we  all  hope  is  in  the  gradual  process  of 
removal.  It  is  said  that  the  two  most  poorly 
paid  classes  of  public  servants  are  the  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  and  the  teachers  in  our  schools  and 
colleges.  It  would  generally  be  admitted,  I  sup- 
pose, that  at  the  same  time  they  are  the  two 
classes  most  vitally  needed  in  every  community, 
and  pre-eminently  worthy  of  generous  and  loyal 
support.  While  the  greatly  increased  cost  of 
living  has  gone  on  apace  there  has  not  been  a 
perceptible  increase  in  the  salary  paid  these 
most  worthy  workers. 

105 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Whatever  the  difficulties  are  that  keep  our 
best  men  back  from  the  ministry,  they  should 
be  faced  squarely  and  courageously  and  should 
be  removed. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  worth  considering  that  ad- 
verse influences  of  all  kinds  are  not  without 
some  compensating  advantages.  They  help  to 
sift  out  undesirable  men;  they  will  not  keep 
back  the  strongest  and  best.  It  is  well  to  keep 
out  of  the  ministry  men  of  weak  purpose  and 
little  faith  and  courage.  As  some  one  has  well 
said,  no  man  ought  to  enter  the  ministry  if 
he  can  help  it;  that  is,  unless  he  has  such  an 
irresistible  impulse  or  clear  call  in  the  direction 
that  no  hindrance  or  obstacle  can  stop  him. 
Men  are  made  strong  by  overcoming  difficulties. 
Obstacles  have  always  been  God's  challenge  to 
faith  and  character.  In  this  age  of  ease  and 
comfort  there  is  no  danger  in  giving  our  young 
men  too  many  difficulties  to  surmount. 

Having  considered  thus  far  the  reasons  which 
deter  yoimg  men  from  the  ministry,  and  the 
difficulties  to  be  overcome,  let  us  now  turn  to 
the  positive  side  and  ask  why  our  best  yoimg 
men  should  seriously  consider  the  claims  of 
the  ministry  as  a  life-work. 
1 06 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Why  should  a  father,  who  has  an  unusually 
gifted  son,  be  justified  in  praying  that  God 
would  lead  his  boy  to  consecrate  his  life  to  the 
service  of  his  brother-man  in  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation?  Why  should  such  a  father  feel 
that  no  honor  could  come  into  his  life  to  be 
compared  with  that  of  having  a  son  occupying 
a  place  of  leadership  among  men,  and  be  deemed 
worthy  to  stand  before  the  altar  and  offer  up 
the  sacrifices  of  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  and 
to  proclaim  to  men  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the 
Son  of  God?  While  I  ask  this  question  am 
I  not  right  in  believing  that  with  many  of  our 
parents,  to  whom  God  hath  given  the  rich 
blessings  of  sons,  the  ministry  is  by  no  means 
the  goal  of  their  ambition?  On  the  contrary, 
would  it  not  be  rather  a  cause  of  regret  and  dis- 
appointment if  some  bright  son  were  to  write 
you  from  college  that  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  study  for  the  ministry?  You  might 
not  like  to  take  the  responsibility  of  advising 
him  against  such  a  course,  but  in  your  heart 
you  would  feel  sorry  that  your  son  had  not 
embarked  on  a  career  where  the  material  com- 
pensations would  be  greater  and  the  probable 
hardships  less. 

107 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

While  at  the  present  day  the  sons  of  the 
clergy  seem  to  be  offering  themselves  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry  in  rather  unusual  num- 
bers, and  while  occasionally  the  son  of  a  man 
of  large  wealth  or  professional  success,  or  social 
leadership,  is  secured,  it  too  often  happens  that 
the  ranks  of  the  ministry  are  recruited  from 
those  families  who  are  less  prominent  in  the  social 
and  commercial  life  of  the  world.  These  men 
are  often  earnest  and  devoted,  and  some  of 
them  reach  positions  of  distinction  and  power; 
but  they  start  out  in  their  professional  life  in- 
adequately equipped,  and  are  always  more  or 
less  hampered. 

The  work  of  the  ministry,  when  rightly  con- 
ceived of,  is  a  work  demanding  the  highest  gifts 
and  graces  of  culture  and  refinement  of  body, 
mind,  and  spirit.  The  young  man  to  whose 
intellectual  equipment  has  been  fortimately 
added  the  advantages  which  come  from  a  home 
with  an  atmosphere  of  gentle  breeding  and 
the  ease  which  results  from  good  manners  has 
a  far  better  prospect  of  usefulness  and  success. 
I  have  noticed  that  even  the  poor,  and  those 
who  have  had  few  advantages  of  education, 
never  fail  to  recognize  a  true  gentleman  in 
io8 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

their  minister.  Other  things  being  equal,  that 
clergyman  has  the  decided  advantage  whose 
early  home  training  has  been  of  the  right  kind. 

Therefore  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  one 
great  need  of  the  ministry  to-day  is  that  it  should 
be  recruited  by  a  greater  preponderance  of  the 
sons  of  men  of  culture  and  education.  All  honor 
to  those  noble  men,  gentlemen-bom,  who  come 
from  humble  homes  and  through  much  trial 
and  tribtilation  and  poverty  at  last  reach  their 
goal.  Among  that  number  have  been  some  of 
God's  heroes  and  noblest  saints.  They  have 
succeeded,  not  because  of,  but  in  spite  of,  their 
early  disadvantages.  Therefore  they  deserve 
the  more  praise. 

What,  after  all,  is  the  work  of  the  ministry? 
It  is  first  and  foremost  to  preach  to  men  the 
glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed  God.  To  do 
this  with  persuasive  power  and  with  best  re- 
sults in  this  age  of  progress  and  scholarship 
calls  for  men  of  learning,  and  also  for  men  of 
strong  convictions.  We  need  in  the  pulpit 
men  of  courage  and  vision,  who  feel  like  Saint 
Paul,  "Woe  imto  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel." 

The  ministry  calls  a  man  to  deal  with  the 
doubts  and  difficulties,  the  fears  and  misgivings, 
109 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  the  individual  soul.  He  must  needs  be  there- 
fore a  man  of  tender  sympathy,  and  must 
understand  the  motives  which  govern  and  in- 
fluence the  human  heart. 

He  is  called  to  administer  to  sin-laden  souls 
the  medicines  of  the  Gospel,  and  commtmicate 
the  sacramental  life  of  God,  which  comes  through 
his  office,  as  a  steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God. 

He  is  the  good  Shepherd,  not  only  of  the  sheep 
of  his  fold,  but  of  the  lambs  whose  tender  feet 
he  must  guide  with  infinite  hope  and  patience 
into  the  way  of  peace. 

God's  minister  feels  himself  called  as  God's 
ambassador.  He  speaks  for  God.  In  God's 
name  he  appeals  to  men  to  be  reconciled  to  the 
holy  will  of  our  Heavenly  Father.  Therefore 
he  belongs  to  the  whole  community,  and  not 
alone  to  his  own  little  flock.  All  that  he  is, 
all  that  he  has,  every  gift,  every  power,  every 
virtue,  must  be  used  to  help  his  fellow-men.  His 
mission  is  to  build  up  human  character.  His 
material  is  human  life,  in  all  its  stages  of  de- 
velopment. The  effect  of  his  work  is  not  tran- 
sient, but  permanent.  The  true  minister  of  God 
works  for  eternity. 

Indeed,  if  a  yotmg  man  desires  a  work  which 
no 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

requires  all  the  qualities  of  leadership — brains, 
learning,  power  of  expression,  administrative 
ability,  courage,  and  devotion — where  shall  he 
find  it  more  surely  than  in  the  ministry? 

If  a  young  man  desires  to  help  in  a  most  tell- 
ing way  his  brother-man,  to  be  of  greatest  ser- 
vice to  the  community,  to  contribute  most 
efficiently  to  the  upbuilding  of  human  character 
and  the  moral  enrichment  of  human  lives,  here 
is  a  field  which  may  well  call  forth  his  best  gifts. 

Of  course  we  realize,  and  would  not  seem  for  a 
moment  to  forget,  that  only  God  can  effectually 
call  men  into  this  holy  service.  It  is  the  su- 
preme prerogative  of  His  Spirit  to  separate  men 
unto  the  work  whereunto  He  has  called  them. 
But  at  the  same  time  it  is  true  that  God*s 
blessing  works  through  himian  influences  and 
human  motives  on  the  wills  of  men.  Hence  it 
is  well  to  place  before  a  young  man,  as  he  con- 
templates the  momentous  question  of  what  his 
life-work  shall  be,  the  greatness,  the  dignity,  the 
breadth,  and  the  far-reaching  influence  of  the 
work  of  the  ministry. 

We  are  very  far  from  believing  that  the 
difficulties  of  the  ministerial  profession  really 
dismay  many  of  our  best-endowed  and  nobler- 

III 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

minded  young  men.  Rather  are  we  persuaded 
that  an  appeal  to  the  heroic  in  them  will  gener- 
ally win  them.  The  appeals  which  lay  hold  of 
strong  men  are  not  those  which  set  forth  the 
attractions,  compensations,  and  advantages  of 
the  ministry.  The  call  to  heroism  will  gener- 
ally meet  with  an  heroic  response.  Make  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  hard,  so  that  it  calls 
for  courage  and  real  manhood,  and  you  make 
it  triumphant  and  irresistible.  If  a  man  with 
a  soul  fit  for  the  ministry  has  to  make  his  choice 
between  self-sacrifice  and  a  life  of  ease  and  self- 
indulgence  the  former  will  make  the  stronger 
appeal  to  him. 

In  other  relations  in  life  it  is  the  appeal  to  the 
heroic  that  enlists  the  strong  natures.  Let  a 
war  break  out  and  the  flag  be  in  danger,  though 
death  may  be  imminent  and  peril  great,  thou- 
sands of  our  noblest  and  best  young  men  will 
volimteer.  They  cotmt  not  their  lives  dear  to 
themselves  if  only  they  can  save  their  coimtry. 
The  history  of  the  Christian  Church  abounds  in 
heroes  and  martyrs.  Every  great  struggle  of 
the  Church  has  been  won  at  the  cost  of  lives 
gladly  given  for  Christ's  sake. 

Saint  Paul,  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 

112 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

did  not  shrink  from  his  clear  calling,  even 
though  Christ  said  by  way  of  warning,  *'I  will 
show  him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for 
my  name's  sake.'* 

Let  fathers  and  mothers  only  get  a  clear 
vision  of  the  length  and  breadth  and  height 
and  depth  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  of  the  love 
of  Him  who  hung  upon  it,  and  they  will  more 
and  more  be  glad  to  give  their  sons  to  a  work 
whose  glory  is  to  proclaim  His  imspeakable 
riches. 


XII 

RELIGION   AND   BUSINESS 

"FJELIGION  is  religion,  and  business  is 
JTV  business."  One  frequently  hears  this 
rather  trite  aphorism,  and  where  it  is  not  in  so 
many  words  thus  stated  it  is  quite  evident  that 
it  is  often  acted  upon  as  a  working  theory  of 
life.  It  has  its  origin  in  the  utterly  false  con- 
ception that  a  man*s  business  is  something 
entirely  separate  and  distinct  from  his  religion. 
In  the  popular  mind  the  world  of  business  and 
the  world  of  religion  are  two  different  worlds. 
The  province  of  the  one  must  not  invade  that 
of  the  other.  A  man's  business  is  supposed  to 
concern  itself  with  the  affairs  of  this  life.  Its 
function  is  to  enable  him  to  make  a  living.  It 
is  the  means  whereby  he  gains  his  food  and 
clothing,  the  support  of  his  wife  and  children 
and  those  dependent  on  him.  It  is  the  particu- 
lar form  of  activity  by  which  he  expects  to 
114 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

acquire  a  competency  for  old  age  and  the 
honorable  and  praiseworthy  independence  to 
which  he  thinks  himself  fairly  entitled. 

As  to  religion,  that,  too,  as  men  generally  re- 
gard it,  is  by  no  means  imimportant.  But  it 
has  to  do  chiefly  with  another  world  for  which 
this  life  is  a  preparation.  Its  sanctions  and 
inspirations,  its  motives  and  its  rewards,  have 
in  the  average  mind  little  to  do  with  the  buying 
and  selling  and  getting  gain  which  so  largely 
occupies  us  here.  Shakespeare  brings  out  this 
idea  in  a  very  picturesque  way  when  he  de- 
scribes old  Falstaff  on  his  death-bed.  In  the 
agony  of  his  suffering  he  cries  out,  **0  God, 
God!"  His  nurse,  Mrs.  Quickly,  is  rather 
shocked  that  he  should  make  such  an  appeal, 
and  replies :  "  O,  do  not  say  that ;  you  are  not 
that  badly  off.  You  are  very  ill,  but  it  has  not 
come  to  that  point."  Her  thought  was  evi- 
dently that  religion  was  only  good  to  die  by, 
but  of  very  little  service  to  live  by.  This 
practical  and  almost  complete  divorcement  of 
business  from  religion  we  have  characterized  as 
a  false  conception.  We  might  safely  go  further 
and  say  it  is  positively  wrong  and  in  its  effect 
most  baneful  both  to  business  and  religion. 
115 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS   FLOCK 

As  we  think  of  this  separation  in  daily  life  we 
are  tempted  to  say,  ''That  which  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder.'* 

It  is  of  the  very  essence  of  religion  that  it 
claims  the  man's  whole  life,  and  if  it  does  not 
succeed  in  permeating  and  reaching  the  entire 
man  it  has  failed  in  its  mission.  To  divide 
a  man's  life  into  compartments,  separate  and 
distinct,  and  then  to  label  them,  and  to  say, 
*'This  is  business,"  and  "This  is  religion,"  is 
to  misconceive  utterly  the  scope  and  power  and 
meaning  of  Christianity.  Religion  and  busi- 
ness do  not  belong  to  different  worlds  or  hemi- 
spheres. They  are  intended  to  be  one.  Busi- 
ness, when  at  its  highest  and  best  state  of  de- 
velopment, is  religious,  and  when  it  is  conducted 
on  principles  other  than  religious,  when  it 
ignores  the  precepts  of  honesty  and  fair  deal- 
ing, of  justice  and  mercy,  of  brotherhood  and 
humanity,  it  ceases  to  be  good  business,  and  is 
on  the  road  to  disintegration  and  ultimate  ruin. 

So  too  religion,  when  it  fails  to  interest  itself 
in  men's  daily  lives,  in  their  conduct  toward 
each  other,  in  the  way  they  are  clothed  and 
fed  and  paid,  in  the  kind  of  houses  in  which 
they  live,  and  the  sanitary  conditions  of  their 
ii6 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

streets,  in  the  opportunity  given  to  their  chil- 
dren to  develop  their  bodies  and  minds  as 
well  as  their  souls,  it  ceases  to  be  the  religion 
of  Christ,  and  then  becomes  a  religion  of  a 
privileged  class,  and  is  already  doomed  to 
failure  and  decay. 

Jesus  Christ  is  Christianity,  and  Christianity 
is  wanting  where  the  spirit  and  genius  and  teach- 
ing of  the  Christ  are  not  present.  Our  business, 
whatever  form  of  activity  it  may  take,  is  for 
a  Christian  man  supposed  to  be  controlled  and 
inspired  by  a  Christian  spirit  and  conducted 
with  a  due  regard  to  the  law  of  Christ.  A  man's 
business  can  be  carried  on  in  just  as  truly  a 
religious  spirit  as  his  prayers  or  church -going. 
It  is  not  so  much  religion  and  business  that 
the  wor!d  needs  to-day  as  religion  in  business. 
To  make  all  business  in  its  spirit  and  method 
essentially  religious,  because  essentially  Chris- 
tian— this  is  the  great  victory  yet  to  be  won. 
This  means  that  in  the  world  of  business, 
"Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  what- 
soever things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are 
lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,** 
will  at  last  prevail.     Then  will  men  no  longer 

117 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

say,  "Business  is  business,  and  religion  is  re- 
ligion," but  "My  business  is  the  field  or  arena 
in  which  I  can  exercise  my  faith  and  carry  out 
my  religion  and  make  good  my  claim  to  be  a 
disciple  of  Christ."  Plainly  it  is  in  entire 
harmony  with  the  divine  plan,  as  revealed  in 
the  life  and  teaching  of  Christ,  that  business 
and  religion  should  be  one,  and  not  two;  that 
business  in  all  its  varieties  and  forms  should 
supply  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  life  and 
power  of  religion  may  manifest  itself.  It  is  high 
time  that  this  harmful  distinction  in  the  popular 
mind  between  things  secular  and  things  religious 
were  ended,  and  that  men  should  realize  the 
possibility  of  infusing  into  all  life  the  religious 
and  altruistic  spirit. 

Christianity  is  not  only  a  practical  religion, 
but  its  entire  aim  is  to  ennoble  and  dignify  all 
life,  and  fill  it  with  the  momentum  and  dynamic 
of  a  worthy  purpose.  The  Apostle  Paul  urges 
us  not  to  be  slothful  in  business,  but  to  be 
fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.  Another 
inspired  writer  bids  us:  Whatsoever  we  do, 
whether  we  eat  or  drink,  to  do  it  heartily  unto 
the  Lord,  giving  God  thanks.  Indeed,  a  busi- 
ness career  may  be  made  as  high  and  holy  a 
ii8 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS   FLOCK 

calling  as  any  other.  Even  the  ministry  itself 
cannot  lay  claims  to  higher  sanctions.  The 
Apostle  reminds  us  that  every  Christian  is  to 
be  a  priest  of  God.  In  the  long  honor-roll  of 
God's  Saints  the  Church  delights  to  call  the 
names  of  thousands  who,  as  business  men,  have 
served  God  with  a  devotion  beyond  all  praise. 

The  place  and  claims  of  business  are  clearly 
recognized  in  the  divine  economy  of  the  Chris- 
tian system.  Indeed,  nearly  all  the  Epistles 
of  the  New  Testament  are  addressed,  not  to 
clergymen,  but  to  men  and  women  toiling  at 
their  various  tasks,  to  business  people  who  had 
to  make  their  own  living  in  the  world.  You 
will  notice  that  the  burden  of  much  they  have 
to  say  is  how  to  help  us  to  reconcile  the  just 
and  reasonable  demands  of  business  life  with 
the  high  and  imperative  and  uncompromising 
claims  of  Christ. 

The  Gospel  has  invested  labor  and  toil  and 
service  with  an  infinite  dignity,  and  thrown 
round  the  lot  of  the  working-man  a  halo  of 
charm  and  moral  beauty  it  never  possessed 
before.  It  has  proclaimed  the  law  that  if  a 
man  will  not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat,  and  re- 
minded us  that  if  a  man  provide  not  for  those 

119 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  his  own  household  he  is  worse  than  an  infidel, 
and  has  denied  the  faith.  Before  our  Lord 
came  upon  earth,  to  work  with  one*s  hands  at 
daily  toil  was  considered  a  disgrace.  It  was  a 
badge  of  dishonor  and  an  ignominy  reserved 
for  slaves  and  criminals.  But  He  came,  pro- 
claiming, "My  father  worketh  hitherto,  and 
I  work."  In  His  own  person  He  labored 
at  the  carpenter's  trade  by  the  side  of  His 
adopted  father,  and  we  can  think  of  Him  as 
making  window-frames  and  doors  for  the  houses 
of  His  poor  neighbors.  His  first  disciples  were 
either  laboring-men  whose  brows  were  browned 
by  exposure  to  the  summer  sun  and  whose 
hands  were  hardened  by  daily  work,  or  they 
were  men  of  business  like  Matthew  the  Publican 
or  Luke  the  Physician.  Christ  knew  all  human 
needs,  and  in  establishing  His  Kingdom  on 
earth  He  could  foresee  that  inevitably,  for  all 
time  to  come,  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
His  disciples  would  be  the  workers  of  the  world. 
It  is  the  divine  plan  that  in  the  world  of  busi- 
ness, by  the  men  of  business,  the  great  problem 
of  human  redemption  is  to  be  wrought  out. 

Let  no  man,  therefore,  be  ashamed  of  work. 
Let   no   man   hesitate   to   throw  himself   en- 

120 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

thusiastically  into  his  business  and  thus  pro- 
mote it  and  develop  it  and  make  it  more  and 
more  fruitful  and  serviceable  to  his  fellow-man. 
Always  assuming  that  our  business  is  clean  and 
honorable  and  worthy,  one  need  not  entertain 
the  least  scruple  in  giving  it  his  very  best  de- 
votion and  endeavor.  The  man  who  ought  to 
be  ashamed  in  this  world  of  wonderful  oppor- 
tunity is  the  man  who  will  not  work,  for  just 
as  in  the  days  before  Christ  came  a  man  was 
disgraced  who  toiled,  so  in  these  days  of  light 
and  knowledge  of  His  will  the  time  is  siu-ely 
coming,  if  it  has  not  already  arrived,  when  the 
man  who  can  and  does  not  work  will  be  ac- 
counted among  those  who  are  dishonest. 

The  law  of  work  is  a  law  of  imiversal  obliga- 
tion. If  a  man  through  the  inheritance  of  his 
father  or  the  success  of  his  own  efforts  is  happily 
exempt  from  the  necessity  of  laboring  for  his 
own  bread,  that  fact  does  not  emancipate  him 
from  the  operation  of  the  law  of  service.  He  is 
then  called  just  as  imperatively  as  before  to 
labor,  if  not  for  himself,  then  for  his  brother- 
man,  for  the  purity  of  his  city,  for  the  good  of 
the  state,  for  the  betterment  of  social  and  relig- 
ious conditions,  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

121 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

It  is  one  of  the  encouraging  developments  of 
modem  Christian  civilization  that  this  law  of 
service  is  becoming  more  and  more  recognized. 
This  fact  bears  impressive  witness  to  the  grad- 
ual emergence  of  the  spirit  and  power  of  the  life 
of  Christ.  There  was  a  time  when  a  man  was 
supposed  to  have  a  right  to  do  what  he  wished 
with  his  own.  If  wealth  came  to  him,  or  leis- 
ure, he  could  horde  the  one  with  impunity  or 
squander  the  other  in  self-indulgence.  No 
longer  is  this  possible.  Wealth  is  now  con- 
sidered by  the  community  and  by  the  state  as 
a  trust,  a  stewardship.  It  has  always  been  so 
considered  by  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  But  it  is 
a  new  thing  comparatively  to  see  the  man  of 
wealth  held  morally  responsible  in  the  eyes  of 
his  brother-man  for  the  use  to  which  he  puts 
his  money.  One  great  philanthropist  of  our 
day,  still  living,  has  said  that  a  man  who  dies 
rich  dies  disgraced.  In  other  words,  society 
has  now  reached,  by  the  law  of  Christian 
evolution,  the  stage  when  money  is  regarded  as 
a  sacred  trust  committed  to  a  man,  who  must 
faithfully  use  it  for  his  brother-men.  "Mine 
are  the  silver  and  the  gold,  saith  the  Lord  God 
of  hosts."     If  only  men  could  remember  that 

122 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

solemn  fact  and  act  under  its  inspiration,  what 
a  great  uplift  would  come  into  the  world  of 
business!  The  money  is  all  God's.  We  are 
His  trustees  to  use  it  for  Him,  and  to  account 
to  Him  for  the  disposition  we  have  made  of  it. 
If  we  have  made  it  honestly  it  is  ours  as  against 
the  claims  of  any  other  man,  and  the  law  of  the 
land  protects  us  in  our  guardianship  of  it.  But 
in  the  last  resort  it  belongs  to  Another.  The 
brains,  the  opportimity,  the  good  luck,  if  you 
please,  or  even  the  inheritance,  which  put  it 
into  our  hands — all  these  came  from  God,  the 
sole  Proprietor,  in  whom  at  last  is  the  title- 
deed. 

Here,  of  course,  we  come  into  the  presence  of 
that  which  all  thoughtful  men  recognize  as  the 
danger  of  business  life — namely,  regarding  our 
occupation  as  the  end  rather  than  the  means. 
We  are  persuaded  that  the  fascination  of  an 
active  life  devoted  to  the  building  up  of  a 
fortune  lies  rather  in  the  gain  or  pursuit  itself 
than  in  the  mere  satisfaction  of  possession. 
**The  love  of  money,*'  says  the  Apostle,  "is  the 
root  of  all  evil,"  and  by  this  he  means  that 
spirit  of  selfish  greed  of  which  money  is  so  often 
the  symbol.  But  it  is  to  the  credit  of  himian 
123 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

nature  that  innumerable  instances  are  now 
forthcoming  to  show  that,  while  men  love 
money,  they  love  other  things  far  more.  Men 
are  realizing  with  increasing  clearness  the  im- 
potency  of  money  alone  to  satisfy  the  highest 
and  noblest  claims  of  the  human  heart.  They 
willingly  part  with  their  money  for  the  sake  of 
those  they  love.  They  make  generous  sacri- 
fices of  their  worldly  goods  for  causes  which 
appeal  to  their  hearts. 

In  the  business  world  to-day  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  point  to  a  man  of  large  leadership 
and  influence  and  power  in  the  commercial  life 
of  the  nation  who  is  not  also  a  conspicuous 
example  of  Christian  beneficence.  The  vast 
majority  of  our  great  captains  of  industry  are 
devoted  Christian  men  who  give  not  only  of 
their  money,  but  of  their  time  and  personal 
service  to  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Such  examples  are  full  of  hope,  and  are  a  sig- 
nificant and  auspicious  omen  of  our  time.  If 
such  men,  in  the  midst  of  their  heavy  respon- 
sibilities and  exacting  calls,  can  make  time  to 
discharge  their  Christian  duties  and  to  take 
their  places  in  the  Church  as  active  workers  on 
our  vestries  and  teachers  in  our  Sunday-schools, 
124 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

it  is  an  evidence  that  the  leaven  of  the  Gospel 
is  working  mightily. 

The  attitude  of  the  Christian  layman  toward 
his  business,  therefore,  should  be  that  of  one 
who  regards  it  as  his  vocation  or  calling,  in  the 
exercise  of  which  he  can  be  a  loyal  servant  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  will  not  lay  such  emphasis 
upon  it  as  to  neglect  his  religious  obligations, 
but  will  so  far  regulate  its  details,  if  possible, 
as  to  enable  him  and  those  connected  with  him 
to  be  worthy  examples  for  others.  He  knows 
that  his  Master  will  provide  what  he  shall  eat 
and  drink  and  wherewithal  he  shall  be  clothed 
if  in  obedience  to  His  command  he  seeks  first 
the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness, 
and  in  a  life  of  confident  faith  asks  Him  day  by 
day  for  His  gracious  help  and  blessing. 


XIII 

OUR   CHURCH   MACHINERY 

THE  Church  has  not  only  a  spiritual  side, 
but  in  order  to  do  its  work  in  the  world 
and  accomplish  results  its  various  forces  must 
be  organized.  A  certain  amount  of  machinery 
is  necessary.  In  the  days  of  the  Church's  in- 
fancy this  machinery  was  very  simple.  Our 
Lord  called  aroimd  Him  twelve  men,  designated 
as  Apostles,  whom  He  commissioned  and  to 
whom  He  gave  power  to  ordain  others.  So  we 
read  in  the  New  Testament  of  Bishops,  Elders, 
and  Deacons.  These  three  orders  have  been 
continued  to  the  present  time.  To  the  Bishops 
alone  the  power  of  ordaining  other  ministers 
has  always  been  confined  in  our  Church.  As 
the  Church  grew  and  spread  over  the  nations 
of  the  earth  these  three  orders  of  the  ministry, 
as  originally  appointed,  are  uniformly  and  in- 
variably found.  In  the  process  of  time  Bishops 
126 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

were  assigned  to  certain  well-defined  geographi- 
cal limits  within  which  they  exercised  their 
jurisdiction. 

These  divisions  over  which  a  Bishop  presides 
are  called  dioceses.  A  diocese,  under  the  gen- 
eral Canon  Law  of  the  American  Church,  can- 
not be  set  apart  until  it  has  a  certain  number 
of  self-supporting  parishes  and  can  give  a 
reasonable  assurance  of  its  ability  to  support 
a  Bishop  and  maintain  itself.  Until  that 
period  of  development  and  strength  has  been 
reached  such  territory  is  known  as  a  mission- 
ary district.  We  have  at  the  present  time 
thirty -three  missionary  districts,  of  which 
twenty-three  are  domestic  and  ten  are  foreign. 
The  Bishops  having  jurisdiction  over  these 
districts,  as  well  as  the  missionary  work  imder 
their  care,  are  supported  by  the  Church  at 
home  through  the  agency  of  our  General  Board 
of  Missions. 

The  domestic  missionary  districts  are  grad- 
ually becoming  self-supporting,  and  as  the  more 
sparsely  settled  and  newer  sections  of  our 
country  fill  up  they  will  become  dioceses,  and 
not  only  be  able  to  take  care  of  themselves, 
but  to  contribute  toward  the  support  of  other 
127 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

fields.  Indeed,  many  of  our  dioceses  were 
once  missionary  districts. 

In  the  foreign  field,  such  as  China  and  Japan, 
it  is  unreasonable  to  hope  that  this  condition 
of  self-support  will  be  attained  until  after  the 
lapse  of  some  years,  although  the  growth  of 
Christianity  is  such  as  to  assure  us  that  eccle- 
siastical independence  cannot  be  far  distant. 

There  is  a  small  book,  easily  accessible,  called 
The  Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  Church,  with 
which  every  intelligent  layman  ought  to  be 
familiar.  There  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
Church's  government  are  to  be  found.  We 
may  state,  however,  for  our  present  purpose, 
that  the  highest  lawmaking  power  of  the  Chiu-ch 
is  that  which  is  known  as  the  General  Conven- 
tion. This  body  meets  once  every  three  years, 
and  is  composed  of  two  houses  known  respec- 
tively as  *'The  House  of  Bishops"  and  '*The 
House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies." 

In  this  respect  this  central  legislative  body 
suggests  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
composed  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Indeed,  there  are  many  in- 
teresting points  of  resemblance  between  the 
government  of  the  Church  and  that  of  our 
128 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

American  Republic.  The  two  Houses  sit  and 
deliberate  separately,  and  in  all  discussions  free- 
dom of  debate  is  allowed.  Either  House  may- 
originate  and  propose  legislation,  and  all  acts 
of  the  General  Convention  must  be  adopted 
and  authenticated  by  both  Houses. 

The  House  of  Bishops  is  composed  of  every 
Bishop  having  jurisdiction  in  our  Chiu-ch,  and 
of  every  Bishop  who  by  reason  of  advanced 
age  or  bodily  infirmity  has  resigned  his  jiuis- 
diction.  A  majority  of  the  Bishops  entitled  to 
vote  is  necessary  to  constitute  a  quonmi  for 
the  transaction  of  business.  The  Senior  Bishop, 
in  the  order  of  Consecration — that  is,  the  Bishop 
who  has  held  office  longest — ^is  the  Presiding 
Bishop  of  the  House  and  of  the  Church  at 
large. 

The  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies  is 
made  up  of  four  clerical  and  four  lay  represen- 
tatives from  each  diocese  which  has  been  ad- 
mitted into  imion  with  the  General  Convention. 
To  constitute  a  quorum  in  this  House  for  the 
transaction  of  business,  the  clerical  order  must 
be  represented  by  at  least  one  Deputy  in  each 
of  a  majority  of  the  dioceses,  and  the  same 
rule  applies  with  reference  to  the  lay  order. 
9  129 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Bishops  are  elected  for  self-supporting  dio- 
ceses by  the  clergy  and  laity  of  such  dioceses 
in  a  convention  called  for  that  purpose.  For 
missionary  districts  Bishops  are  nominated  or 
chosen  by  the  House  of  Bishops,  but  both  in 
the  case  of  diocesan  and  missionary  Bishops 
such  election  or  choice  is  subject  to  confirma- 
tion by  the  House  of  Deputies  during  the 
session  of  the  General  Convention,  and  at  other 
times  by  the  majority  of  the  standing  com- 
mittees of  the  several  dioceses. 

In"  every  diocese  or  missionary  district  there 
is  an  annual  convention  or  convocation  held, 
presided  over  by  the  Bishop,  and  composed  of 
the  clergy  and  lay  representatives,  canonically 
resident  within  the  diocese  or  district.  The 
lay  Deputies  to  such  convention  are  chosen 
by  the  parishes  and  missions  within  the  dio- 
cese, and  the  clerical  and  lay  Deputies  to  the 
General  Convention  are  elected  once  every 
three  years  by  the  conventions  of  the  respec- 
tive dioceses. 

Each  diocese  has  the  right  to  adopt  its  own 
constitution  and  enact  its  own  canons,  pro- 
vided they  do  not  contravene  the  General 
Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  Church.  It 
130 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

would  be  well  if  our  lay  people  would  familiar- 
ize themselves  more  fully  with  the  laws  and 
canons  by  which  their  diocese  is  governed, 
and  which  are  published  every  year  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Convention. 

The  missionary  work  of  the  Church  at  home 
and  abroad  is  conducted  by  the  Domestic  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  which  embraces 
in  its  membership  every  baptized  member  of 
our  communion. 

It  is  an  incorporated  body  under  the  laws  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  its  meetings  are 
generally  held  quarterly  in  the  City  of  New 
York.  An  Executive  Committee,  chosen  from 
the  Board,  meets  monthly,  and  to  this  Exec- 
utive Committee  large  discretionary  powers  may 
be  delegated. 

The  Board  itself  is  composed  of  forty-eight 
members,  of  whom  sixteen  shall  be  Bishops, 
sixteen  presbyters,  and  sixteen  laymen.  Of 
these  one  half  are  chosen  triennially  by  the 
General  Convention,  and  the  other  half  by  the 
Provincial  Synods  into  which  the  whole  terri- 
tory of  our  Church  is  divided. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Missions  is 
elected  by  the  General  Convention,  and  holds 
131 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

office  for  six  years,  but  is  eligible  to  re-election. 
He  may  be  a  Bishop,  presbyter,  or  layman. 
When  he  reaches  the  age  of  sixty-five  he  may 
be  retired  and  placed  upon  a  pension.  He  must 
have  his  headquarters  in  the  Church  Missions 
House,  now  located  for  convenience  in  the  City 
of  New  York.  There  is  a  treasurer  and  assist- 
ant treasurer,  various  secretaries,  and  other  nec- 
essary officers. 

To  this  Board,  thus  organized,  and  represent- 
ing the  whole  Church,  and  having  every  bap- 
tized member  of  the  Church  as  an  integral 
part  of  it,  is  committed  the  management  of 
our  missionary  work.  The  chief  business  of 
the  Board  is  to  collect  funds  for  carrying  out 
the  Church's  missionary  program  and  to  dis- 
tribute what  is  collected  as  wisely  and  effec- 
tively as  possible.  To  this  end  its  managers 
keep  in  close  and  sympathetic  touch  with  the 
work  and  workers  throughout  the  entire  field. 
They  are  familiar  with  the  conditions  social, 
political,  and  religious  which  prevail,  and  are 
thus  enabled,  with  a  wise  statesmanship,  to 
administer  their  trust  to  the  greatest  advantage. 

At  the  beginning  of  each  fiscal  year  the  Board 
informs  the  whole  Church  of  the  work  it  pro- 
132 


A   BISHOP  AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

poses  to  undertake  with  their  co-operation,  and 
how  much  money  it  will  require  to  accomplish 
it.  In  other  words,  it  lays  before  the  members 
of  the  Church  its  budget,  setting  forth  the  ap- 
propriations to  each  field  and  the  simi  total 
required  to  meet  it.  This  sum,  at  the  present 
time,  amounts  to  about  one  and  a  half  millions 
of  dollars. 

This  gross  stun  is  then  distributed  by  the 
Board  of  Missions  among  the  various  dioceses 
after  consultation  with  the  Bishop  and  other 
representatives.  A  fair  and  equitable  basis  of 
apportionment  is  adopted,  giving  to  each  dio- 
cese such  a  share  of  the  whole  amount  as  it 
feels  able  to  asstune.  When  a  diocese  receives 
from  the  Board  of  Missions  its  allotment  it  pro- 
ceeds in  turn  to  distribute  the  bulk  simi  among 
its  various  parishes  and  missions,  giving  to 
each  the  opportunity  to  modify  and  readjust 
the  amount  apportioned  until  it  is  satisfactory. 
It  then  becomes  the  duty  and  privilege  of  the 
individual  parish  to  secure  from  each  com- 
mimicant  such  contribution  as  he  can  make 
toward  meeting  the  apportionment.  It  has 
been  f oimd  that  for  the  rank  and  file  of  our  peo- 
ple the  method  which  secures  the  best  results 

133 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

and  appeals  most  strongly  to  their  interests  is 
that  known  as  the  Weekly  Duplex  Envelope 
System.  The  great  advantage  of  this  system 
is  that  it  makes  our  offering  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God  at  home  and  abroad  an  act  of  worship, 
enabling  us  to  place  on  the  altar  each  Sunday 
our  gift.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  a  Scriptural 
method,  and  complies  with  the  Apostolic  in- 
junction, **Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let 
every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store  as  God  hath 
prospered  him'*;  and,  thirdly,  its  educational 
value  is  very  great,  as  it  cultivates  the  habit 
of  systematic  giving  on  the  part  of  all  our 
people,  young  and  old,  each  according  to  his 
ability. 

The  apportionment  plan  for  securing  funds 
for  our  missionary  work  is  comparatively  re- 
cent among  us;  but  it  has  already  resulted  in  a 
very  large  increase  of  revenue  for  that  purpose. 
Along  with  the  increase  of  money  there  has 
naturally  come  an  enormous  increase  of  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  cause  of  Missions.  The 
plan  commends  itself  more  and  more  as  it  is 
adopted,  because,  when  faithfully  carried  out, 
it  enlists  the  individual  in  the  campaign  and 
keeps  him  in  touch  with  the  Church's  conquer- 
134 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

ing  march,  and  intelligently  alive  to  the  heroic 
efforts  of  our  missionary  leaders.  More  and 
more  as  the  genius  and  spirit  of  Christianity 
spread  throughout  the  Church  it  is  becoming 
evident,  as  some  one  has  well  said,  that  any 
man  who  has  no  use  for  Missions  is  as  much 
out  of  date  as  an  old  flintlock  gun.  Life 
moves  too  rapidly  in  these  days  for  us  even  to 
stop  and  look  at  such  a  man. 

In  the  last  resort  all  our  organizations  have 
one  great  object  in  view — namely,  the  hasten- 
ing of  that  great  day  when  the  whole  earth 
shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea. 


XIV 

THE   CHRISTIAN  YEAR 

ONE  of  the  greatest  blessings  v/e  have  in- 
herited from  the  early  centuries  of  the 
Church's  life  and  worship  is  the  possession  of 
the  Christian  Year.  There  is  nothing  fan- 
tastic or  unnatural  in  its  observance.  Rather 
may  we  say  it  would  be  a  strange  violation  of 
the  natural  instincts  of  a  loving  loyalty  and  de- 
votion not  to  keep  in  memory  the  chief  events 
of  our  Saviour's  life. 

The  same  impulse  of  grateful  homage  which 
prompts  us  to  commemorate  our  national  heroes 
and  benefactors,  to  observe  the  birthdays  and 
recall  the  deeds  of  the  great  men  who  have 
devoted  their  lives  to  their  country's  good, 
naturally  suggests  that  we  cherish  the  sacred 
memory  of  our  Lord  and  Master.  Therefore  it 
is  that  the  Christian  Year  concerns  itself  chiefly 
with  vividly  recalling  to  mind,  and  living  over 
136 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

again,  the  great  acts  of  our  redemption  through 
Christ.  The  Church  Calendar  also  contains  the 
names  of  the  Holy  Apostles  and  some  of  the 
Evangelists  and  other  Saints  whose  lives  and 
services  were  closely  identified  with  the  Church's 
infancy.  To  this  list  of  Scripture  Saints  our 
Mother  Church  of  England  has  added  the  names 
of  certain  martyrs  and  others  especially  worthy 
of  such  honor.  While  these  latter  do  not  occur 
in  our  American  Calendar,  yet  it  is  entirely 
fitting  that  we  should  hold  them  in  reverent 
esteem.  The  Latin  and  Greek  branches  of  the 
Church  Catholic  are  wont  to  commemorate  a 
very  much  larger  number  of  worthies.  It  is 
altogether  probable  that  our  list  will  be  en- 
riched in  the  course  of  time  by  the  addition  of 
other  names,  ancient  and  modern,  to  whose  lives 
and  works  the  Church  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude. 
The  Christian  Year  also  contains  certain  fes- 
tivals and  fasts  to  be  especially  observed.  It 
has  been  happily  remarked  that  the  Church  does 
not  number  her  days  or  measure  her  seasons 
so  much  by  the  motion  of  the  sun  as  by  the 
course  of  our  Saviour,  beginning  and  counting 
her  year  with  Him,  who,  being  the  true  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  began  now  to  rise  upon  the  world. 

137 


A    BISHOP  AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

The  year  thus  divided  into  occasions  of 
special  commemoration  has  been  handed  down 
to  us  from  the  most  ancient  times.  By  it  the 
Church  regulates  her  public  worship,  makes 
generous  provision  for  the  more  intelligent 
and  helpful  reading  of  the  Bible,  and  in  real- 
ity for  us,  her  people,  it  is  the  venerated  and 
beloved  pathway  along  which  we  come  up  to 
the  House  of  God.  By  means  of  the  Christian 
Year  we  connect  the  passage  of  time  with  the 
great  facts  of  redemption,  and  thus  are  enabled 
to  so  number  our  days  that  we  may  apply  our 
hearts  unto  wisdom.  An  examination  of  its 
structure  reveals  the  fact  that  it  insures  the 
Scriptural  setting  forth  of  the  Gospel,  not  in 
part,  but  in  all  its  fullness.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  a  better  method  of  at  once  in- 
structing people  in  the  truths  of  the  Bible  and 
at  the  same  time  commanding  their  sympathy 
and  interest  by  keeping  constantly  before  the 
mind  of  the  worshipper  in  detail  the  various 
events  in  the  life  of  our  divine  Redeemer. 

The  Church  Year  is  the  consecration  to  God 
of  a  natural  cycle  of  time  in  a  holy  round  of 
services,  each  separate  one  offering  to  Him 
praise  and  worship  for  His  own  great  glory  and 

138 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

for  the  noble  and  wonderful  acts  of  redemption. 
It  begins  with  the  Advent  season,  which  pre- 
pares us,  by  the  carefiilly  selected  Scripture 
teaching  of  four  consecutive  Sundays,  for  the 
great  fact  of  the  Incarnation  celebrated  on 
Christmas  Day.  Speaking  broadly,  we  may  say 
that  the  Christian  Year  is  divided  into  two 
grand  divisions:  the  first  extending  from  the 
first  Sunday  in  Advent  to  Trinity  Sunday,  and 
the  second  from  Trinity  Sunday  on  through  the 
half-year  to  Advent  Simday  again.  The  first 
part  is  used  to  teach  doctrine,  the  second  given  up 
to  practical  instruction,  not  so  exclusively,  how- 
ever, that  there  is  not  a  free  interchange.  But 
from  Advent  Sunday  to  Christmas  the  historical 
facts  of  the  preparation  for  Christ's  coming  and 
His  birth.  His  second  coming  to  judge  the  world, 
and  our  preparation  for  it  are  dwelt  upon. 
Following  an  ancient  custom,  Isaiah  is  the 
Prophet  chosen  for  this  part  of  the  year.  From 
Christmas  through  Epiphany,  with  its  Sundays, 
the  Lord  Jesus  is  revealed  to  us  by  His  miracles 
to  be  absolute  Lord  and  Master  over  the  world 
of  nature.  Diseases  yield,  demons  are  driven 
forth,  the  storms  cease  at  His  word  of  command. 
Then  come  the  three  Sundays  of  solemn  prepa- 
139 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ration  for  Lent,  beginning  with  Septuagesima, 
when  our  duty  of  self-control  and  of  self-renun- 
ciation are  brought  forward,  and  so  we  enter 
into  the  remembrance  of  our  Lord's  great  fast 
in  the  wilderness  and  His  resistance  to  tempta- 
tion, with  our  sad,  faltering,  distant  imitation 
of  it. 

The  season  of  Lent  calls  up  to  our  remem- 
brance the  reasons  why  our  Lord  suffered  and 
what  for  our  sins  He  endured,  and  so,  step  by 
step,  it  prepares  us  for  Holy  Week.  This  last 
great  week,  ushered  in  by  Palm  Sunday,  ter- 
minates at  last  in  the  great  fast  of  Good  Friday, 
which  is  followed  by  the  glories  of  the  Easter 
feast.  The  Sunday  on  which  the  great  fact  of 
the  Resurrection  is  proclaimed  is  made  the 
center  around  which  all  the  preceding  and 
succeeding  Sundays  throughout  the  universal 
Church  arrange  themselves.  All  refer  to  this 
as  the  crowning  act  of  that  Incarnation  which 
the  whole  Church  commemorates  at  Christmas. 

The  period  of  forty  days  from  Easter  to  the 
Ascension,  and  of  ten  days  from  the  Ascension 
on  to  Whitsunday,  are  taken  up  with  setting 
forth  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  are 
always  counted  as  a  continuous  feast.  The 
140 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

doctrines  of  the  Resurrection,  of  our  Lord*s  Ses- 
sion on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  as  Inter- 
cessor and  Mediator,  and  the  Descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  abide  forever  with  the  Church,  are  all 
festal  facts  for  our  humanity. 

Then  comes  Trinity  Sunday,  which  is  peculiar 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  On  the  succeeding 
Sundays  the  great  historic  pivotal  facts  are  not 
now  dwelt  upon,  but  the  practical  lessons,  the 
moralities  of  the  Gospel,  are  brought  out. 
Especially  if  one  will  only  keep  the  thought  in 
mind,  the  Sundays  after  Trinity  illustrate  in  a 
wonderful  way  the  manifold  fruits  and  divine 
operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  might  all 
with  propriety  be  called  Sundays  after  Pente- 
cost, as  indeed  they  are  designated  in  the  Latin 
Church. 

A  study  of  the  wise  and  comprehensive  plan 
upon  which  the  Chtirch  year  is  arranged  cer- 
tainly does  bring  out  the  truths  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  enforces  them  upon  the  attention  in 
a  way  that  no  other  that  can  be  devised  could 
possibly  do.  Its  flexibility,  its  imity  of  purpose, 
its  various  teachings,  its  insistence,  Sunday  by 
Sunday,  on  the  same  essential  verities — all 
these  make  it  as  nearly  an  inspiration  as  an 
141 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

institution  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  Christian 
longings  and  worship  can  possibly  be.  Our 
feasts  and  our  fasts  are  being  found  so  helpful 
and  spiritually  uplifting  that  many  of  the  de- 
vout Christian  bodies  about  us  are  more  and 
more  observing  them. 

For  a  number  of  years  Christmas  and  East- 
er have  been  quite  generally  observed  in  our 
cotmtry  by  Christians  of  nearly  all  names. 
Such  concurrent  observance  bears  impressive 
witness  to  the  vital  power  over  the  religious 
life  in  the  commimity  which  a  Christian  Year, 
devoutly  planned  and  consecrated  by  ages  of 
holy  use,  must  yield. 

As  our  own  Bishop  Coxe  so  admirably  says: 
**The  Christian  Year  of  the  Church  is  not  prop- 
erly appreciated  as  a  means  of  grace  even  by 
ourselves.  For,  supposing  it  had  never  been 
invented,  nor  thought  of  before,  and  supposing 
it  had  just  entered  into  the  mind  of  some  mod- 
em Christian  to  establish  a  system  like  that  of 
the  Church  for  insiuing  a  full  display  of  Christ 
and  a  thorough  exploring  of  the  Scriptures  every 
year,  how  brilliant  the  thought!  How  Scrip- 
tural the  conception!  How  evangelical,  how 
highly  spiritual,  how  blessed  the  practical  plan ! 
142 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Such  would  be  the  universal  expression  of  popu- 
lar piety;  and  the  author  of  this  great  method 
would  be  regarded  as  the  man  of  the  times,  the 
grand  original  of  a  new  and  progressive  form 
of  Christianity,  a  Luther  or  a  Wesley.  And 
justly  so,  for  it  may  be  safely  said  that  no  one 
of  the  poptdar  leaders  who  has  left  a  denomina- 
tion to  perpetuate  his  name  and  teachings  has 
embodied  in  it  anything  which  is  one-thou- 
sandth part  so  substantial  and  positive  as  this 
truly  Christian  system  of  Scriptural  exposition. 
Look  at  this  majestic  system  of  claiming  all 
time  for  Jesus  Christ,  and  filling  every  day  and 
every  year  with  His  name  and  His  worship.  See 
how  vast  and  rich  the  scheme  as  a  token  of 
and  a  provision  for  the  second  Advent.  And 
then  see  what  may  be  said  of  its  divine  origin. 
God  is  the  real  Author  of  this  scheme,  and  it 
is  revealed  as  part  of  His  wisdom  for  per- 
petuating His  truth." 

The  Christian  Year  needs  to  be  preached 
more  fully  than  it  is,  and  on  broader  lines.  The 
historic  witness  of  the  observance  of  the  Ec- 
clesiastical Calendar  is  closely  allied  to  what 
humanity  at  its  best  most  craves  and  needs. 
What  the  Christian  world  most  sorely  requires 

143 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

is  just  that  which  the  New  Testament  in  those 
three  great  festivals  most  remarkably  exhibits, 
God  and  man  reconciled,  and  thereby  the  wide 
world  of  mankind  drawn  together  in  love  and 
peace,  in  friendship  and  sympathy. 

As  a  distinguished  writer  has  said,  it  is  quite 
tmnecessary  to  refer  in  this  connection  to  the 
contribution  which  the  constantly  increasing 
observance  of  the  Christian  Year  is  making 
toward  a  closer  fellowship  among  God's  peo- 
ple. The  keeping  of  Christmas  alone  has  ac- 
complished untold  blessings  in  this  direction 
and  restored  to  the  lost  imity  of  Christians  of 
every  name  a  sense  of  oneness  in  the  love  of  the 
Christ  Child.  From  the  beginning  of  Advent, 
which  answers  to  that  day  in  the  Mosaic  year 
when  the  trumpet  was  blown  in  Zion  prepa- 
ratory to  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  not  oiu- 
Church  merely,  but  all  Christians,  if  not  all 
men  and  children,  are  thinking  of  Christmas. 
All  men  are  children  when  that  day  comes,  and 
nearly  all  are  friends.  The  heart  of  the  most 
selfish  man  grows  soft  and  tender,  if  it  does 
not  melt,  in  the  presence  of  that  amazing  love 
shown  by  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem  lying  in  the 
manger. 

144 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Still  more  profoundly,  more  spiritually,  is  it 
true  that  Lent  and  Holy  Week,  followed  as  they 
immediately  are  by  the  joyful  feast  of  Christ's 
Resurrection,  are  awakening  a  growing  con- 
sciousness of  human  solidarity  and  fostering  a 
spirit  of  mutual  sympathy.  This  becomes  each 
year  more  strikingly  apparent.  *'I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me."  Good  Friday  and  Easter,  bound 
together  as  one,  have  this  result,  and  by  draw- 
ing us  all  to  our  Lord  they  tend  more  and  more 
to  imite  Christians  in  a  world-wide  brother- 
hood. Let  us  thank  God  for  this  benefit 
through  the  increasing  observance  of  the  Chris- 
tian Year.  Finally,  we  cannot  but  think  that 
the  Christian  Year  is  divinely  intended  to  bring 
home  to  us  more  effectually  the  truth  of  oiu* 
Lord's  sacred  humanity  and  the  reality  of  His 
work  and  suffering  on  oiu-  behalf. 

With  the  words  of  the  saintly  Herbert  on 
this  subject,  we  may  well  bring  this  chapter 
to  a  close: 

Who  goeth  in  the  way  which  Christ  hath  gone 
Is  much  more  sure  to  meet  with  Him,  than  one 
That  traveleth  byways. 

10 


XV 

CHRISTIAN   EDUCATION 

IT  would  be  quite  impossible  to  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  the  subject  about  which 
this  chapter  concerns  itself.  Whether  one 
thinks  of  the  future  of  the  individual,  of  the 
nation,  or  of  the  Church,  it  is  equally  clear  that 
on  the  character  of  those  who  now  make  up  the 
youth  of  our  country  its  destiny  for  weal  or  woe 
must  depend. 

In  the  earlier  and  simpler  days  of  our  national 
life,  when  the  population  was  comparatively 
small  and  homogeneous,  there  was  no  anxious 
question  of  Christian  education.  All  the  in- 
fluences that  played  upon  the  child's  formative 
years — the  home,  the  Church,  and  the  school 
— were,  speaking  broadly,  rehgious  influences. 
The  Colonial  days  and  those  which  succeeded 
them  were  marked  by  a  quiet  but  earnest  piety. 
Those  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our  national 
146 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

life  were  deeply  religious  men.  The  homes  of 
our  forefathers  were  generally  religious  homes 
where  church-going  and  family  prayer  and 
Bible-reading  and  Christian  schools  were  to  be 
expected  naturally  and  as  a  matter  of  course. 
But  all  this  is  now  changed.  The  public  school 
supported  by  the  state  provides  for  the  ele- 
mentary education  of  the  child,  and  that  is 
supplemented  by  the  state  imiversity,  where  the 
demands  of  his  academic  life  are  met.  Our 
coimtry  has  grown  from  a  couple  of  millions 
of  people,  fringing  the  eastern  borders  of  the 
Atlantic  states,  to  a  population  of  over  ninety 
milHons.  It  is  estimated  that  each  year  at 
least  a  million  foreigners  are  added  by  immi- 
gration. Already  a  large  percentage  of  our  total 
population  is  comprised  of  those  who  have  been 
brought  up  under  different  social,  political,  and 
religious  customs  from  our  own.  Millions  of 
these  are  children  of  school  age.  But  it  has 
been  decided  by  the  highest  judicial  authority 
that,  as  our  Constitution  guarantees  perfect 
liberty  of  conscience  to  all  in  the  exercise  of  their 
religious  rights,  it  is  not  lawful  that  Christianity 
or  any  other  religion  shall  be  definitely  taught 
in  our  public  schools.  The  same  principle  for- 
147 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

bids  any  undue  emphasis  on  religion  in  the 
curriculum  of  our  state  universities.  One  re- 
sult of  this  interpretation  has  made  it  unlaw- 
ful even  to  have  the  Bible  read  in  the  public 
schools  of  some  of  our  states.  This  does  not 
mean  that  the  states  or  our  system  of  public 
education  are  opposed  to  religion,  but  simply 
that  in  justice  to  that  reHgious  Hberty  so  care- 
fully safeguarded  by  the  Constitution  it  has 
been  decided  that  public  schools  supported  by 
the  government  shall  not  definitely  teach  re- 
ligion. It  is  obvious  that  in  a  school  com- 
posed of  children  whose  parents  are  conscien- 
tious Roman  Catholics,  Protestants,  Jews,  and 
Agnostics,  any  elaborate  system  of  dogmatic 
religious  teaching  might  be  deemed  an  injustice 
and  arouse  opposition. 

Of  course,  where  people  do  not  like  the  non- 
religious  character  of  state-supported  schools 
and  colleges  there  is  sometimes  the  possibility 
of  establishing  a  private  or  parochial  school 
to  which  their  children  can  be  sent.  This  is 
often  resorted  to  by  Churches,  and  especially 
by  our  Roman  Catholic  brethren.  But  this 
method  of  relief  is  expensive,  and  especially  so 
when  taxes  must  be  paid  to  support  the  public 
148 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

schools  as  well  as  those  established  by  the  parish. 
It  has  been  suggested  from  time  to  time  that 
entire  justice  could  be  meted  out  to  all  con- 
cerned, and  the  principle  of  fair  play  amply  con- 
served by  the  state,  if  the  children  in  our  public 
schools  could  be  instructed  in  religion  one  hour 
daily  by  their  pastors  or  other  duly  authorized 
teachers.  It  is  reported  that  some  such  plan 
has  been  tried  and  is  working  successfully  in 
other  coimtries.  With  us  in  America  it  is  evident 
that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  our  children 
are  not  receiving  any  adequate  instruction  in 
religion  in  the  public  schools  for  the  reason 
above  stated. 

If  they  are  to  be  systematically  taught, 
therefore,  imder  present  conditions  the  only 
hope  of  accomplishing  it  is  to  look  to  the  home 
and  the  Chtuch.  Let  us  then  consider  the 
function  of  these  two  divinely  ordained  agencies 
as  related  to  the  Christian  education  of  our 
youth. 

It  is  interesting,  as  bearing  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  the  whole  subject  of  religious  education, 
to  know  that  our  late  General  Convention 
created  a  central  Board  of  Religious  Education 
to  which  has  been  committed  the  whole  subject. 

149 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

It  will  be  the  province  of  this  Board  to  concern 
itself  about  the  education  of  our  youth  in  re- 
ligious matters,  not  only  through  the  Sunday- 
schools,  but  also  in  the  secondary  schools — the 
day  schools — as  well  as  colleges  and  universities 
of  higher  learning. 

Let  us  now  turn  first  to  the  home.  A  wise 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  is  reported  to  have  re- 
marked on  one  occasion,  **Give  me  the  control 
of  the  child  for  the  first  seven  years  of  its  life, 
and  I  care  not  greatly  to  what  influence  it  is 
exposed  thereafter."  Such  a  statement  reveals 
at  once  an  intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature 
on  the  part  of  the  prelate,  and  also  a  most 
exalted  and  worthy  conception  of  the  vital  im- 
portance of  the  home  in  molding  character. 
Without  question,  it  is  during  the  tender  and 
susceptible  years  of  early  childhood,  while  the 
mind  and  heart  are  open  to  receive  impressions, 
that  the  deep  foundations  of  an  abiding  char- 
acter are  laid.  What  a  blessing,  then,  to  the 
boy  or  girl  to  have  in  the  father  and  mother,  its 
natural  guardians  and  protectors,  the  whole- 
some influence,  by  word  and  example,  it  needs ! 
Given  the  right  kind  of  home,  the  proper  pa- 
rental control,  and  the  problem  of  the  child's 
ISO 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

Christian  education  is  settled.  But  here  is 
where  there  is  so  often  a  lamentable  failure.  If 
parents  have  little  or  no  sense  of  responsibility 
and  are  themselves  without  religious  convictions 
and  a  positive  faith  to  govern  and  sustain  them, 
the  child  is  robbed  on  the  very  threshold  of  life 
of  that  v/hich  should  be  its  greatest  blessing. 

As  are  the  parents,  so  are  the  children,  not 
only  as  to  personal  religion,  but  as  to  all  other 
motives  that  enter  into  the  development  of 
character.  The  solution  of  the  whole  problem 
of  the  Christian  education  of  our  youth,  it  is 
plain  to  see,  is  wrapped  up  in  that  of  having 
homes  where  they  are  brought  up  in  the  love 
and  fear  and  knowledge  of  God.  In  too  many 
homes  there  is  a  tendency  to  shift  the  respon- 
sibility of  Christian  teaching  to  the  Church  and 
Sunday-school.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  amount 
of  Sunday-school  instruction  can  counteract  the 
baneful  and  deadening  effect  of  a  home  where 
the  parents  habitually  disregard  and  set  at 
naught  the  sanctions,  guidance,  and  authority 
of  religion.  Example  is  so  much  more  powerful 
than  precept  that  one  is  tempted  to  despair  of 
a  child's  future  who  must  start  out  in  life  with- 
out the  help  and  inspiration  of  a  Christian 
151 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

home.  Parental  influence  and  example  are  so 
potent  that  where  it  is  exercised  in  creating 
an  atmosphere  of  love  and  reverence  for  holy 
things,  and  the  habit  of  church  attendance,  it 
rarely  fails  in  its  object. 

We  are  not  disposed  to  place  the  entire  bur- 
den of  responsibility  for  the  child's  future  on 
the  home,  but  in  the  last  resort  it  rests  there 
rather  than  at  the  door  of  the  Church,  for  the 
highest  benefits  can  never  come  to  the  individual 
from  the  public  worship  of  the  Church  unless 
a  wholesome  environment  in  the  life  of  the 
family  accompanies  it.  Besides  this,  but  a 
small  part  of  the  children  of  our  country  attend 
church  or  Sunday-school;  and  if  all  attended, 
a  lesson  of  an  hour  in  seven  days  can  produce 
no  deep  or  lasting  impression. 

So  much  for  the  home !  Now  as  to  the  func- 
tion of  the  Church  in  Christian  education.  It 
is  an  encouraging  fact  that  a  marked  advance 
has  been  made  in  the  methods  of  Simday- 
school  instruction,  teacher-training,  courses  of 
study,  and  all  the  helps  that  go  to  give  effi- 
ciency and  secure  the  best  results.  It  is  also  true 
that  there  are  many  excellent  secondary  schools 
for  boys  and  girls  under  the  control  of  the 
152 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Church  where  the  utmost  care  is  taken  not 
only  to  impart  religious  knowledge,  but  to  set 
an  example  of  bright,  happy,  and  useful  Chris- 
tian living. 

Moreover,  through  the  efforts  of  the  Church, 
supplemented  by  the  Student's  Volunteer  Move- 
ment and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions, there  is  no  college  or  university  in  our  land 
where  young  men  and  women  are  not  within 
reach  of  Christian  influences  and  the  privilege 
of  public  worship.  There  has  been  a  great 
awakening  in  religious  affairs  in  our  universi- 
ties, manifesting  itself  not  only  in  increased 
attendance  at  Church,  but  in  the  formation  of 
missionary  organizations,  Bible  classes,  and  other 
forms  of  religious  activity,  while  frequently  men 
are  offering  themselves  as  volunteers  for  the 
mission  field. 

We  cannot  be  too  grateful  for  the  enormous 
advance  of  the  cause  of  popular  education 
which  has  marked  the  last  half-century  in  our 
national  life.  Within  that  period  there  has 
been  organized  our  great  system  of  public 
schools,  in  which  free  elementary  education  is 
offered  to  all;  there  have  been  established  in 
cities  and  towns  free  high  schools,  in  which  sec- 
153 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ondary  education  is  given  to  those  who  de- 
sire it;  the  states  have  founded  and  endowed 
for  men  and  women  universities  which  are 
rapidly  widening  their  scope  and  increasing 
their  effectiveness.  Such  progress  has  never 
been  equaled  in  the  history  of  any  other  people. 
We  have  founded,  also,  free  training-schools  for 
teachers  all  over  the  Union,  and  in  our  native 
white  population  illiteracy  has  almost  disap- 
peared. Nowhere  else  is  there  such  popular 
faith  in  education,  such  willingness  to  be  taxed 
for  the  building  and  maintenance  of  schools. 
In  scientific  and  technical  education,  agricul- 
tural and  industrial  education,  we  are  making 
genuine  and  rapid  progress.  The  aims  and  ends 
of  practical  education  appeal  to  us  with  irresisti- 
ble force.  They  have  created  our  ideals.  "We 
regard  education,*'  says  Daniel  Webster,  '*as  a 
wise  and  liberal  system  of  police,  by  which 
property  and  life  and  the  peace  of  society  are 
secured."  Here  is  the  paramount  fact;  both 
the  school  and  the  Church  are  in  our  eyes  too 
often  regarded  as  a  superior  kind  of  police.  The 
highest  good,  therefore,  in  the  popular  mind  is 
property  and  the  peace  of  society.  But,  after 
all,  this  is  a  narrow  and  purely  utilitarian  con- 
154 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ception  of  true  education.  Only  those  who  look 
above  and  beyond  property  and  the  peace  of 
society  and  strive  in  all  earnestness  to  live 
in  the  infinite  and  permanent  world  of  truth, 
beauty,  and  goodness  can  hope  to  rise  to  the 
full  height  of  a  noble  manhood.  True  edu- 
cation is  the  symmetrical  development  of  the 
whole  man — ^body,  mind,  and  spirit.  The  man 
whose  intellectual  faculties  are  sharpened  and 
strengthened  at  the  expense  of  his  moral  and 
spiritual  powers  cannot  be  a  worthy  member 
of  society.  He  may,  indeed,  be  the  more  dan- 
gerous to  the  community  by  virtue  of  his 
shrewdness  and  cunning.  A  moral  degenerate 
is  a  greater  menace  because  of  his  education. 
Religion  and  virtue  are  the  most  essential  ele- 
ments of  humanity,  and  they  can  be  taught; 
but  they  are  the  most  difficult  things  to  teach, 
because  those  alone  in  whom  they  are  a  life 
principle,  bodying  itself  in  a  character  which 
irresistibly  inspires  reverence,  love,  and  devo- 
tion, can  teach  them.  This  is  a  truth  of  uni- 
versal application;  for  whenever  there  is  a 
question  of  educational  efficiency  and  progress 
the  primary  consideration  is  not  methods,  not 
buildings,  not  mechanical  agencies  of  whatever 
155 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

kind,  but  a  living  teacher.  Whatever  is  a  vital 
element  of  his  being,  whether  it  be  religion  or 
•  irtue  or  esthetics  or  scientific  proficiency,  that 
thing  he  can  teach;  and  in  the  highest  and  best 
sense  he  can  teach  nothing  else.  We  can  teach 
what  we  know  and  love  to  those  who  know  and 
love  us.  The  rest  is  drill,  and  must  be  more  or 
less  mechanical. 

Hence  it  is  that  with  all  the  blessings  that 
come  to  us  through  our  admirable  system  of 
public  schools  care  should  be  taken  that  so  far 
as  possible  the  teachers  under  whom  the  young 
are  placed  should  be  men  and  women  of  high 
characters,  persons  whom  the  children  can  rev- 
erence and  respect.  To  this  end  they  should 
be  teachers  animated  by  the  religious  motive. 
Such  teachers,  without  consciously  attempting 
to  teach  religion,  will  inevitably  generate  a 
religious  atmosphere  in  the  school-room  and 
will  exert  an  influence  morally  purifying  and 
uplifting. 

All  this  means  that  the  future  stability  and 
character  of  our  national  life  depend  on  the 
molding  and  training  of  the  young  and  inspiring 
them  with  high  ideals.  It  means  that  parents 
should  awaken  to  their  responsibility  in  making 
156 


A   BISHOP  AMONG  HIS    FLOCK 

the  home  the  sanctuary  of  truth  and  virtue  and 
unselfishness.  It  means  that  the  Church  should 
arouse  herself  and  devote  her  energies  imre- 
mittingly  to  instilling  into  the  hearts  and  minds 
of  the  yoimg  the  abiding  truths  of  religion,  and 
that  in  all  our  schools  and  colleges  and  institu- 
tions of  learning  of  whatever  sort  only  those 
should  be  employed  whose  personal  influence 
tends  to  deepen  in  the  yoimg  a  sense  of  the 
nobility  of  life  and  to  give  them  a  vision  of 
personal  responsibility  and  service  to  their 
fellow-men. 

Christian  education  issues  in  Christian  char- 
acter. Christian  character  is  the  most  vital 
social  influence  and  the  most  enduring  bond. 
It  is  this  that  has  created  whatever  is  best  in 
our  national  life;  it  is  this  that  must  foster, 
sustain,  and  develop  the  individual  and  the 
family,  the  Chtuch  and  the  state,  if  we  are  to 
preserve  and  increase  our  rich  inheritance  and 
hasten  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in 
ourselves  and  in  the  world  around  us. 


XVI 

OUR  CHURCH  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  THE 
REFORMATION 

BY  the  English  Reformation  we  mean  the 
long  struggle  of  the  Bishops,  clergy,  and 
laity  in  England  during  the  sixteenth  century 
to  free  the  Church  from  certain  unscriptural 
doctrines  and  practices  which  had  grown  up 
during  the  Middle  Ages. 

As  Archbishop  Bramhall  declares,  **I  make 
not  the  least  doubt  in  the  worid  but  that  the 
Church  of  England  before  the  Reformation  and 
the  Church  of  England  after  the  Reformation 
are  as  much  the  same  Church  as  a  garden  be- 
fore it  is  weeded  and  after  it  is  weeded  is  the 
same  garden,  or  as  a  vine  before  it  be  primed 
and  after  it  is  pruned  and  freed  from  luxuriant 
branches  is  one  and  the  same  vine." 

Protests  against  the  interference  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  in  the  affairs  political  and  religious  of 
IS8 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

England  had  been  going  on  for  centuries.  The 
power  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  and  his  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  the  English  Church  were  a  gradual 
growth. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Christianity 
was  brought  into  England  during  the  second 
century,  if  not  earlier,  probably  by  missionaries 
from  Gaul,  who  planted  settlements  of  the 
Church  here  and  there.  At  the  opening  of  the 
fourth  century  we  have  the  well-authenticated 
story  of  the  martyrdom  of  Saint  Alban,  a 
Christian  soldier,  who  was  beheaded  for  the 
faith  of  Christ  at  Verulam,  now  known  as 
St.  Albans,  in  Hertfordshire.  It  is  a  matter 
of  imquestioned  history  that  in  the  year 
314  three  British  Bishops  were  present  at 
the  Coimcil  of  Aries,  a  city  of  Gaul,  now 
France,  and  that  again  in  the  year  359  the 
attendance  of  three  British  Bishops  is  noted 
at  the  Coimcil  of  Ariminum,  in  Umbria,  on  the 
Adriatic. 

Brief  and  scanty  as  are  the  historical  notices 
of  the  Church  in  England  up  to  this  time,  we 
know  enough  to  be  assured  that  Christianity 
was  preached  there  in  the  fourth  century,  and 
that  Bishops  in  direct  line  from  the  Apostles 
159 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

administered  the  Holy  Sacraments  and  upheld 
the  True  Faith. 

Moreover,  the  fact  of  British  Bishops  being 
present  at  the  councils  above  mentioned  affords 
undoubted  evidence  that  the  British  Church 
was  recognized  as  a  true  and  living  branch  of 
the  one  Catholic  and  ApostoHc  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Some  time  after  this  came  the  Saxon  invasion 
from  Germany,  which  resulted  in  the  expulsion 
of  the  British  Christians  into  the  mountainous 
regions  of  Wales  and  the  moorlands  of  Corn- 
wall. The  Saxons,  coming  over  from  Germany 
in  increasing  numbers,  took  possession  of  the 
whole  land,  which  was  afterward  called  by  the 
name  of  England.  The  Christians  of  the  an- 
cient British  Church,  driven  from  their  homes, 
made  little  or  no  attempt  to  convert  their  con- 
querors, and  they  continued  in  their  heathen- 
ism for  many  years.  It  was  not  till  597,  when 
Gregory,  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  sent  out  a  band 
of  some  forty  monks,  with  a  priest  named 
Augustine  at  their  head,  as  missionaries  to  con- 
vert the  Saxons.  They  landed  in  Kent;  and 
Ethelbert,  the  King  of  that  part  of  England, 
whose  wife,  Bertha,  a  daughter  of  the  King  of 
160 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS   FLOCK 

Paris,  was  already  a  Christian,  gave  them  per- 
mission to  settle  in  the  Isle  of  Thane t.  From 
thence  they  removed  to  Canterbiiry,  which 
now  became  the  headquarters  of  the  Roman 
missionaries.  King  Ethelbert  himself  was  bap- 
tized, and,  as  was  usually  the  case,  the  tribe 
followed  his  lead.  In  this  way  a  considerable 
part  of  the  southeast  of  England,  then  known 
as  the  Kingdom  of  Kent,  was  converted  to 
Christianity. 

And  now  comes  an  interesting  and  significant 
event.  Augustine  was  anxious  that  the  British 
Christians,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Wales  and 
Cornwall,  should  place  themselves  under  his  au- 
thority. Two  meetings  were  arranged  between 
them  and  Augustine,  the  first  at  a  place  named 
Augustine's  Oak,  thought  to  be  situated  south  at 
the  River  Severn;  the  second  at  Bangor,  situ- 
ated in  Wales.  At  the  latter  of  these  meet- 
ings seven  British  Bishops  were  present.  Augus- 
tine asked  them  to  join  with  him  in  preaching  to 
the  Saxons,  and  to  give  up  certain  customs  in 
which  they  differed  from  the  Roman  practice. 
They  refused  both  requests,  and  also  to  accept 
him  as  their  Archbishop.  The  division  contin- 
ued until  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century, 

11  i6i 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

when  the  British  Church  was  finally  absorbed 
in  the  Province  of  Canterbury.  Thus  the  older 
and  smaller  stream  of  Christianity  flowed  into 
the  younger  and  larger  and  became  a  veritable 
and  inseparable  part  of  it. 

While  we  should  be  grateful  to  Rome  for 
thus  taking  the  lead  in  the  conversion  of  Eng- 
land, we  must  not  forget  that  there  are  other 
sources  of  our  British  Christianity  possessing  a 
more  extensive  influence.  The  work  of  Aidan, 
from  lona,  was  very  successful.  In  comparing 
the  efforts  of  Augustine  and  Aidan  oiu*  own 
Bishop  Lightfoot  says:  "It  was  in  the  year  635 
— ^just  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Augustine 
— ^that  Aidan  commenced  his  work.  Though 
nearly  forty  years  had  elapsed  since  Augustine's 
first  landing  in  England,  Christianity  was  still 
confined  to  its  first  conquest,  the  southeast 
comer  of  the  Island,  or  the  Kingdom  of  Kent. 
Beyond  this  border,  though  ground  had  been 
broken  here  and  there,  no  territory  had  been 
permanently  acquired  for  the  Gospel.  Then 
commenced  those  thirty  years  of  earnest,  ener- 
getic labor,  carried  on  by  those  Celtic  mis- 
sionaries and  their  disciples  from  Lindisf ame, 
as  their  original  citadel,  which  ended  in  the 
162 


A   BISHOP    AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

submission  of  England  to  the  gentle  yoke  of 
Christ." 

A  distinguished  writer  of  the  Roman  Church, 
in  describing  the  work  of  the  Roman  and  Celtic 
missionaries,  does  not  hesitate  to  make  a  simi- 
lar admission  in  these  words:  '*0f  the  eight 
kingdoms  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Confederation, 
that  of  Kent  alone  was  exclusively  won  and 
retained  by  Roman  monks,  whose  first  at- 
tempts among  the  East  Saxons  and  Northum- 
brians ended  in  failure.  In  Wessex  and  in 
East  Anglia,  the  Saxons  of  the  West  and  the 
Angles  of  the  East  were  converted  by  the  com- 
bined action  of  Continental  missionaries  and 
Celtic  monks.  As  to  the  two  Northumbrian 
kingdoms,  and  those  of  Essex  and  Mercia, 
which  comprehended  in  themselves  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  territory  occupied  by  the^ 
German  conquerors,  these  four  countries  owed 
their  final  conversion  exclusively  to  the  peace- 
ful invasion  of  the  Celtic  monks,  who  not  only 
rivaled  the  zeal  of  the  Roman  monks,  but  who, 
the  first  obstacles  once  surmounted,  showed 
much  more  perseverance  and  gained  much 
more  success." 

In  having  thus  traced  briefly  the  beginnings 
163 


A    BISHOP    AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

of  Christianity  in  England,  our  object  has  been 
twofold:  first,  to  make  it  evident  that  long 
before  the  arrival  of  Augustine  and  his  monks 
from  Rome  the  Gospel  had  been  planted  on 
British  soil  by  others;  and,  secondly,  that  in 
the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  the  Celtic 
missionaries  from  the  North  played  a  far  more 
important  part  than  their  Roman  brethren. 
At  the  same  time  we  desire  to  do  full  justice 
to  the  very  important  part  the  Roman  Church 
had  in  the  evangelization  of  our  rude  ancestors. 
After  some  delay  the  Bishop  of  Rome  made 
choice  of  a  Greek  monk  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
named  Theodore,  who  was  consecrated  at  Rome 
in  the  year  568.  Theodore  was  a  Greek,  a 
native  of  Tarsus,  Saint  Paul's  native  city.  He 
was  a  man  of  years  and  experience,  a  scholar, 
and  withal  possessed  of  a  generous  spirit  and 
large  sympathy.  He  arrived  in  England  on 
Sunday,  May  27,  a.d.  669.  Shortly  after  his 
arrival  he  was  joined  by  Hadrian,  who  had 
previously  been  offered  the  Archbishopric,  but 
had  declined  the  offer.  Traversing  together 
the  whole  land,  they  soon  became  acquainted 
with  the  people  and  their  needs.  Theodore 
appears  to  have  won  his  way  everywhere  by 
164 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

his  tact  and  sympathy.  With  the  support  of 
the  clergy,  he  began  to  carry  out  his  great  plans 
for  the  consolidation  of  the  isolated  missions 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church.  Theodore's  rule 
as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  a  very  event- 
ful crisis  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  Hitherto 
made  up  of  scattered  missions,  under  his  direc- 
tion it  was  knit  into  an  organic  whole;  the 
number  of  Bishops  was  more  than  doubled;  the 
land  was  divided  into  dioceses,  and  the  founda- 
tions of  the  parochial  system  as  we  have  it  to- 
day were  actually  laid. 

Five  hundred  years  elapsed  from  the  time  of 
Archbishop  Theodore  to  the  Norman  Conquest. 
During  this  time  the  power  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  gradually  increased,  and  his  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  the  English  Church  grew  more 
and  more.  William  the  Conqueror,  in  order  to 
establish  his  position  more  securely,  besought 
the  Pope  to  sanction  his  expedition,  and  he  en- 
tered England  with  this  supposed  authority. 
The  Norman  Kings  who  succeeded  him  followed 
the  same  cotirse.  The  climax  to  the  dangerous 
precedent  of  subjection  to  the  Pope  was  reached 
in  the  great  conflict  about  investitures — that 
is,  as  to  whether  the  Pope  or  the  King  should 

165 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

appoint  the  Bishops.  In  the  weak  reign  of 
King  John,  Pope  Innocent  III.  deposed  the 
King  and  bestowed  the  kingdom  on  PhiHp  of 
France,  urging  him  to  take  possession  of  Eng- 
land on  the  ground  that  it  was  part  of  the 
Pope's  empire.  The  quarrel  had  been  as  to 
the  See  of  Canterbury.  John,  to  save  himself, 
knelt  before  the  Pope's  legate,  and  owned  that 
he  held  his  land  from  the  Pope,  and  that  Eng- 
land both  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  matters 
was  subject  to  the  Roman  See.  But  he  had 
already  been  compelled  by  the  growing  indigna- 
tion of  the  barons  and  the  people  to  sign  the 
Magna  Charta,  which  has  been  called  the 
palladium  of  English  liberty.  Among  the  open- 
ing words  of  this  great  state  document  are 
these:  **The  Church  of  England  shall  be  free 
and  her  liberty  unimpaired."  The  struggle 
between  the  Popes  and  the  sovereigns  of  Eng- 
land continued  with  varying  results. 
Deep  grievances  were  felt  at  the  heavy  exac- 
tions made  by  the  Pope  on  both  clergy  and 
laity  alike.  The  Popes  claimed  *  'Peter's  Pence, ' ' 
and  in  addition  to  this  another  tax  called 
"Annates,"  or  the  first  fruits  of  vacant  bishop- 
rics and  other  benefices.  Besides  this,  the  newly 
i66 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

made  Bishop  had  to  pay  in  advance  the  whole  of 
his  first  year's  income  to  the  Roman  Court. 
But  more  serious  than  all  this  was  the  Pope's 
interference  with  the  liberties  of  the  English 
Church  by  means  of  what  was  named  * 'pro- 
visions.*' By  this  is  meant  that  the  Pope  pro- 
vided beforehand  a  person  to  fill  the  next  va- 
cancy in  any  benefice  he  named.  Sometimes 
this  claim  was  exercised  with  good  effect,  but 
frequently  the  reverse  was  the  case.  By  means 
of  provisions  the  most  prominent  positions  and 
the  best  livings  in  the  Church  were  filled  by 
foreigners,  many  of  whom  resided  abroad  and 
never  even  visited  their  parishes  and  knew 
neither  the  language  nor  faces  of  their  flocks,  all 
the  time  drawing  the  revenues  of  such  benefices. 
We  speak  not  of  other  grave  abuses,  such  as 
indulgences  and  the  corruption  of  the  monas- 
teries and  other  things  so  familiar  to  every 
student  of  English  history.  Again  and  again 
loud  voices  were  raised  calling  for  reform  of 
these  terrible  evils,  but  all  in  vain.  To  say  that 
there  was  a  wide-spread  discontent  and  a  grow- 
ing indignation  against  the  papal  domination  as 
an  interference  and  unlawful  usurpation  is  to 
state  the  case  very  mildly.     England  was  fully 

167 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ripe  for  a  great  religious  revolution.  Popular 
leaders,  among  whom  Wycliffe  was  foremost, 
had  been  stirring  the  people  against  the  many 
abuses  of  the  times.  The  air  was  full  of  in- 
flammable materials  which  were  only  awaiting 
some  cause  sufficiently  exciting  to  set  them 
afire.  At  last  came  the  spark  that  ignited  the 
train  so  long  prepared  for  the  explosion.  In 
Germany  the  immediate  occasion  was  the  sale 
of  indulgences  by  the  Dominican  friar  Tetzel. 
In  England  it  was  the  unrighteous  resolve  of 
Henry  VIII.  to  divorce  his  Queen. 
■  The  part  of  Henry  VIII.  in  the  work  of  the 
Reformation  was  purely  political  and  selfish. 
After  his  quarrel  with  the  Pope,  Henry  did  all 
he  could  to  free  the  realm  and  the  Church  of 
England  from  the  Pope's  influence  and  control, 
against  which  they  had  been  protesting  for 
centuries.  In  all  other  respects  that  King  was 
a  Roman  Catholic  and  held  the  doctrines  of  that 
Church  to  the  day  of  his  death.  The  absurd 
claim  that  Henry  VIII.  had  anything  whatever 
to  do  with  foimding  the  historical  Church  of 
England  has  long  since  been  abandoned  by  all 
intelligent  people.  No  respectable  historian 
would  to-day  try  to  defend  such  a  baseless 

i68 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

anachronism.  It  is  as  ridiculous  as  it  would  be 
to  say  that  the  Emperor  Constantine  was  the 
founder  of  Christianity  because  he  gave  it  royal 
recognition. 

The  Church  of  England  was  the  same  Church 
after  the  Reformation  as  it  was  before,  only  it 
was  freed  from  certain  false  doctrines  and 
usages  that  had  been  fastened  on  it  during  the 
preceding  centiuies. 

After  the  Reformation  the  same  Churches 
were  used,  and  the  same  clergy,  with  few  excep- 
tions, ministered  in  them.  It  is  sometimes 
supposed  that  the  Chiu-ch  of  England  separated 
from  the  Chtirch  of  Rome.  As  a  matter  of 
historic  fact,  such  is  not  the  case.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  Chtu-ch  of  Rome  separated  from  the 
Church  of  England  which  had  been  planted  in 
the  British  Isles,  as  we  have  seen,  during  the 
second  century,  if  not  earlier.  Up  to  1570 
— twelve  years  after  the  accession  of  Queen 
Elizabeth — the  clergy  and  people  of  England, 
both  reformers  and  papists,  worshipped  to- 
gether in  the  same  churches.  In  that  year, 
on  their  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  papal  su- 
premacy, the  Pope  issued  a  bull  of  excom- 
munication against  them,  commanding  his  ad- 

169 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

herents  to  separate  from  the  Church  of  England 
and  establish  separate  places  of  worship.  It 
is  very  significant  that  out  of  ninety-four  hun- 
dred beneficed  clergy  in  England  at  that  time 
less  than  two  hundred  obeyed  the  bull  of  the 
Pope  and  gave  up  their  livings.  All  the  rest 
remained  steadfast  to  the  Chiirch  of  England 
and  the  cause  of  the  Reformation.  These  fig- 
ures certainly  show  that  the  Reformation  was 
a  general  movement  of  the  whole  realm  and  that 
the  Church  of  England,  of  which  our  Church  in 
this  coimtry  is  a  part,  was  a  reformed  national 
Church,  and  not  a  split  from  the  Church  of  Rome. 
The  communion  between  the  two  churches 
was  thus  finally  broken  off  by  a  mandate  of 
Pope  Pius  V.  in  1570,  commanding  all  the 
clergy  and  people  of  England  who  accepted 
the  claims  of  the  papacy  to  withdraw  and  set 
up  separate  places  of  worship.  This  mandate, 
moreover,  was  issued  by  the  Pope,  not  because 
of  any  false  doctrine  held  by  the  Church  of 
England  or  any  uncertainty  as  to  the  validity 
of  her  orders,  but  because  the  Bishops  and 
clergy  and  Parliament  of  England  refused  to 
acknowledge  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  the  head 
of  the  English  Church. 
170 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

In  other  words,  as  the  learned  Bishop  Bull 
has  so  happily  expressed  it:  **The  Church  of 
England  has  not  changed  one  thing  of  what  she 
held  before  the  Reformation  any  way  pertain- 
ing either  to  the  being  or  well-being  of  a  Church. 
She  still  retains  the  same  common  rule  of  faith. 
She  still  teaches  the  necessity  of  a  holy  life,  and 
presses  good  works  as  much  as  before.  She 
still  observes  all  the  fundamental  ordinances 
and  institutions  of  Christianity.  She  baptizes ; 
she  feeds  with  the  Holy  Eucharist;  she  con- 
firms. She  retains  the  same  Apostolical  gov- 
ernment of  Bishops,  priests,  and  deacons." 


XVII 

THE    CHURCH   AND   CHRISTIAN   UNITY 

THE  question  of  Christian  unity  has  com- 
manded much  attention  of  recent  years, 
and  many  of  the  leaders  of  religious  thought  in 
our  country  and  in  other  parts  of  the  Christian 
world  have  given  their  time  and  anxious  study 
to  its  solution.  The  evils  resulting  from  divi- 
sion are  perhaps  more  acute  in  our  American 
civilization  than  elsewhere,  and  no  doubt  be- 
cause the  disintegrating  process  of  division  has 
been  carried  further  with  us. 

More  and  more  our  separations  are  felt  to  be 
a  grave  hinderance  to  the  progress  of  Christian- 
ity at  home  and  abroad.  At  home  the  forces 
of  evil  are  often  thoroughly  organized  and 
strongly  intrenched,  while  the  opposing  hosts 
of  the  Christian  Church  are  so  sadly  cut  up 
into  discordant  factions,  unrelated  to  one  an- 
other, that  their  influence  is  weakened  if  not 
172 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

paralyzed.  This  result  is  most  clearly  seen  in 
our  larger  centers  of  population  where  attempts 
at  municipal  and  social  reform  undertaken  by 
the  Church  are  defeated  and  come  to  naught 
by  the  failure  of  Christians  to  work  together. 

In  the  field  of  temperance  reform,  social 
purity,  and  Christian  education,  this  has  been 
conspicuously  the  case.  We  are  not  speaking 
just  now  of  the  debilitating  effect  upon  or- 
ganized Christianity  in  our  large  cities  by  the 
overlapping  of  churches,  their  frequent  con- 
gestion in  certain  parts  and  their  scarcity  in 
others,  all  resulting  in  a  hard  struggle  for  exist- 
ence and  a  crippling  of  effort  to  extend  their 
influence  and  help  to  the  poor  and  needy. 

But  when  we  leave  the  large  cities  and  come 
to  the  country  districts  it  is  there  we  witness 
often  the  utter  havoc  and  spiritual  desolation 
wrought  by  division.  The  rural  parts  of  New 
England  offer  perhaps  the  best  illustration  of 
how  the  constant  divisions  and  subdivisions  of 
Churches  have  at  last  resulted  in  leaving  many 
communities  without  any  church  at  all.  There 
was  a  time  when  one  village  church  stood  on 
some  commanding  site,  and,  with  its  well- 
supported  pastor,  supplied  the  spiritual  needs 
173 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  the  entire  community.  As  the  years  passed 
theological  disagreements  and  doctrinal  con- 
troversies arose,  and  factions  split  off  from  the 
parent  Church  and  erected  churches  of  their 
own.  Each  new  organization  gradually  sapped 
the  strength  of  the  others,  and  at  last  the  dis- 
integration reached  a  stage  when  it  was  im- 
possible to  support  a  minister  by  any  one 
congregation.  Thus  the  community  has  been 
spiritually  deserted.  But  not  only  in  New 
England,  but  all  through  the  states  of  the 
Central,  Western,  and  Southern  parts  of  our 
country  the  same  multiplication  has  gone  on 
apace.  It  is  not  at  all  unusual  to  find  eight 
or  ten  or  twelve  Churches  struggling  hard  for 
a  precarious  support  in  towns  of  a  thousand 
souls  or  less. 

This  situation  has  at  last  become  so  acute 
that  nearly  all  the  Protestant  bodies  in  our 
country  organized  a  few  years  ago  under  the 
corporate  name  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America.  This  body 
represents,  it  is  claimed,  twenty-five  or  thirty 
millions  of  members.  It  meets  every  four  years. 
While  our  Church  is  not  a  constituent  part 
of  the  organization,  we  co-operate  with  them 
174 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

along  certain  lines  through  our  commissions  on 
Christian  Unity  and  Social  Service.  This  great 
organization  has  for  its  object  the  drawing  more 
nearly  together  of  the  Christian  forces  of  our 
country  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  re- 
ligious, moral,  and  social  righteousness.  It  does 
not  have  for  its  avowed  object  organic  unity, 
but  a  spiritual  unity  of  motive,  along  lines  where 
cordial  co-operation  can  be  secured.  It  is  cer- 
tainly a  movement  in  the  right  direction,  and 
is  a  significant  index  of  our  time.  It  ought  to 
result  in  much  good  and  help  to  cultivate  an 
atmosphere  in  which  organic  or  corporate  unity 
can  be  hopefully  considered.  It  is  in  the  in- 
terest of  a  more  fraternal  and  Christian  spirit 
and  a  far  better  imderstanding  between  the 
various  bodies  which  constitute  its  large  and  in- 
fluential membership.  One  of  its  objects  is  to 
deal  with  the  overlapping  of  Christian  effort, 
and  the  over-churching  of  communities  unduly 
burdened  with  the  care  of  more  religious  or- 
ganization than  they  can  at  all  decently  and 
adequately  support.  If  the  Federal  Council  is 
successful  in  relieving  this  distressing  situation, 
it  will  have  abundantly  justified  itself.  Already 
we  have  heard  of  combinations  having  been 

175 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

effected  between  congregations  closely  allied 
in  doctrine  and  practice,  thus  eliminating  from 
the  overburdened  towns  several  churches  en- 
tirely unnecessary.  May  this  good  work  go 
on!  There  is  an  enormous  opportunity  for  the 
application  of  the  law  of  Christian  comity  in 
this  process  of  blending,  uniting,  and  conse- 
quent strengthening  the  things  that  remain. 

Another  and  perhaps  equally  hopeful  indica- 
tion of  the  growth  of  the  spirit  of  religious  co- 
operation has  been  the  merging  into  one  body 
of  two  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church — 
namely,  the  Ctunberland  with  the  Old-School 
Presbyterians.  There  are  rumors  that  a  still 
further  unification  is  to  take  place  in  the  re- 
uniting of  the  Northern  Presbyterian  with  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  A  similar  blend- 
ing of  separated  bodies  is  being  contemplated 
between  the  Methodist  Church,  North,  and  the 
Methodist  Church,  South,  divided  before  our 
Civil  War  on  account  of  the  slavery  issue. 

In  the  Protestant  world  economic  reasons 
will  no  doubt  cause  other  large  combinations  in 
the  near  future  between  bodies  hitherto  kept 
apart  by  some  slight  difference.  We  mention 
these  readjustments  simply  as  reassuring  tokens 
176 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

of  the  trend  toward  unity.  Even  though  we 
should  be  compelled  to  admit  that,  generally 
speaking,  they  have  been  the  result  of  econom- 
ic pressure,  we  cannot  doubt  that  God's  Holy 
Spirit  has  been  present  in  the  healing  process. 
Encouraging  as  all  these  indications  are,  we 
should  despair  of  the  reunion  of  Christendom 
were  there  not  present  a  far  higher  motive  to 
inspire  us  to  do  our  utmost  to  bring  it  about. 
We  find  that  motive  in  the  clear  expression  of 
the  divine  purpose  in  behalf  of  the  unity  of 
Christ's  disciples.  In  the  great  high-priestly 
intercession  of  the  Master  He  prays  to  His 
Father  that  those  who  shall  believe  in  Him 
may  be  imited.  These  are  His  words:  ''That 
they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me, 
and  I  in  thee;  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us.; 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me."  It  should  be  noted  in  commenting  on 
these  words  of  our  Saviour  that  He  conditions 
the  belief  of  the  world  in  Him,  as  sent  by  the 
Father,  on  the  unity  of  His  disciples ;  that  they 
may  be  one,  "that  the  world  may  believe  that 
thou  hast  sent  me."  In  the  light  of  these  words 
of  Christ  how  very  significant  it  is  that  our 
foreign  missionaries  in  China,  Japan,  and  India 
12  177 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

are  telling  us  that  they  find  the  unhappy  divi- 
sions of  the  Christian  Church  the  greatest  bar- 
rier to  the  conversion  and  ingathering  of  the 
heathen.  Again  and  again  our  faithful  workers 
abroad  are  told  that  when  we  settle  our  differ- 
ences at  home,  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  the 
heathen  hear  our  appeal.  Almost  in  the  words 
of  Saint  Paul  they  are  asking,  Is  your  Christ 
divided?  Dismayed  and  confused  by  our  di- 
visions, they  pathetically  ask:  What  shall  we 
believe?  To  which  Church  among  so  many 
shall  we  give  our  allegiance? 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  strongest 
appeal  for  unity  comes  to-day  from  our  workers 
in  the  foreign  missionary  field.  But  the  prob- 
lem itself  must  be  solved  with  God's  help  by  us 
at  home. 

We  ask,  then,  what  is  our  branch  of  the 
Church  Catholic  doing  to  further  this  con- 
summation so  devoutly  to  be  wished?  What 
has  she  to  offer  to  a  divided  Christendom  as  a 
basis  of  reimion?  Our  Church  feels  that  in  the 
providence  of  God  she  has  been  called  upon 
to  occupy  a  position  of  great  responsibility  and 
unique  privilege  in  her  attitude  toward  this 
question  of  Christian  unity.  Through  the  grace 
178 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

and  mercy  of  Almighty  God  we  are  in  possession 
of  a  heritage  of  Scriptural  faith  and  Apostolic 
order  which  is  destined  to  play  a  most  important 
part  in  the  readjustments  of  the  future.  This 
heritage  is  very  far  from  being  our  own.  We 
simply  have  it  in  trust.  We  are  stewards  for 
God.  It  belongs,  therefore,  to  all  Christians 
who  desire  to  claim  and  avail  themselves  of  it. 
This  faith  and  order  are  nothing  new.  They 
are  as  old  as  Christianity,  and  it  is  because  they 
come  down  from  the  historical  past  that  they 
are  so  valuable  an  asset  now.  The  faith  of  oiu* 
Church  is  proved  by  an  appeal  to  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, interpreted  and  set  forth  in  the  ancient 
creeds,  those  venerable  symbols  known  as  the 
Apostles*  and  Nicene  Creeds.  The  order  of 
the  Church  is  the  historical  Episcopate  locally 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  various  national 
Churches.  As  to  the  faith,  or  creeds,  already 
there  is,  we  rejoice  to  say,  a  practical  and  sub- 
stantial unanimity  of  agreement  between  the 
great  Protestant  bodies  and  ourselves. 

Where  we  differ  is  in  the  matter  of  order, 

or  Chiu-ch  government,  and  it  is  around  this 

question    that    the    controversy   now   centers. 

Our  Church  is  popularly  known  as  the  Episcopal 

179 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Church,  which  means  a  Church  governed  by 
an  Episcopus,  or  Bishop.  These  Bishops  trace 
their  authority  and  commission  back  through 
the  Christian  centuries  to  the  time  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles.  An  unbroken  continuity  of 
Bishops  has  existed  from  Apostolic  times.  This 
Historic  Episcopate,  as  it  is  called,  we  have 
received  from  our  fathers,  and  are  most  careful 
to  guard  and  perpetuate  and  pass  on  to  those 
who  shall  succeed  us.  The  great  Roman  Cath- 
olic and  Greek  Churches,  numbering  many  mill- 
ions of  Christians,  while  they  at  present  are 
separated  from  each  other  on  the  question  of  the 
papal  supremacy,  have  preserved  with  us  this 
succession  of  Bishops,  and  hold  this  Apostolic 
form  of  ministry  as  vital  to  their  existence.  It 
is  at  least  a  significant  fact  that  this  belief 
in  the  historical  continuity  of  the  Episcopate, 
sometimes  called  Apostolical  Succession,  is  held 
to-day  by  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
Christian  world.  Indeed,  for  the  first  fifteen 
hundred  years  of  the  Christian  era  it  was  uni- 
versally held  and  practised.  It  was  not  till  the 
Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century  that  certain 
bodies  broke  off  from  this  government  by  Bishops 
and  established  non-Episcopal  Churches. 
i8o 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Many  of  these  modem  Chiirches  have  ac- 
complished a  great  work  both  at  home  and  in 
the  missionary  field.  Our  relations  with  these 
brethren  are  of  the  most  fraternal  nature,  and 
we  are  glad  to  pay  tribute  to  their  piety,  their 
learning,  and  their  achievements  in  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel.  We  are  not  disposed  to  lay 
upon  them  the  entire  responsibility  for  having 
broken  away  from  this  bond  of  historical  Chris- 
tianity. We  are  conscious  that  in  those  ages 
of  controversy  and  upheaval  attendant  upon 
the  Reformation  we  were  not  without  blame. 
With  a  more  tolerant  spirit  and  a  wiser  states- 
manship the  calamity  might  have  been  averted. 
But  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  past,  we  of 
to-day  must  be  ready  to  make  our  contribution 
toward  the  restoration  of  the  Churches  unity. 

More  than  twenty-five  years  ago  our  Chitrch 
formulated  what  is  known  as  the  quadrilateral 
overttires.  They  included  as  a  basis  of  reimion 
four  things:  first,  belief  in  the  Holy  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  containing 
the  word  of  God;  second,  the  acceptance  of 
the  two  great  Sacraments  of  Holy  Baptism  and 
Holy  Communion  administered  in  the  words  of 
Christ's  institution;  third,  the  Apostles*  and 
i8i 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Nicene  Creeds  as  a  sufficient  statement  of 
faith;  and,  finally,  of  the  adoption  of  the  His- 
toric Episcopate  locally  applied  to  the  needs 
of  the  several  national  Churches. 

This  was  a  forward  movement  on  our  part, 
from  which  much  was  confidently  expected. 
Our  action  was  formally  ratified  and  adopted 
by  the  Lambeth  Conference  of  1888,  represent- 
ing the  whole  Anglican  Episcopate  throughout 
the  world.  While  these  simple  propositions 
did  much  to  clear  the  atmosphere  and  prepare 
the  way  for  further  advance;  while  they  have 
called  forth  much  correspondence  and  quickened 
a  lively  interest  in  Christian  unity,  there,  per- 
haps, their  influence  ceased.  Three  years  ago 
our  Church  appointed  a  Joint  Commission  of 
Bishops,  Priests,  and  Layman  on  Faith  and 
Order,  and  instructed  it  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  whole  question  and  to  prepare  the  way 
for  a  world-wide  conference.  To  this  confer- 
ence every  Church  in  Christendom  is  invited 
which  confesses  our  Lord  as  God  and  Saviour. 
This  Commission  has  already  met  with  much  en- 
couragement. Its  overtures  to  the  other  Chris- 
tian bodies  have  resulted  in  their  appointing  in 
nearly  every  instance  similar  commissions  to 
182 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

confer  with  our  own.  Meanwhile,  the  leaven  is 
stirely  working.  Meetings  in  behalf  of  unity 
are  being  held  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
and  a  deep  interest  is  being  aroused.  Above 
all,  thousands  of  earnest  souls  are  praying  for 
God*s  guidance  and  help. 

It  is  a  matter  for  profound  congratulation 
and  heartfelt  thanks  that  no  longer  are  our 
unhappy  divisions  defended,  but  that  they  are 
clearly  seen  to  be  contrary  to  the  divine  plan 
and  opposed  to  the  express  will  and  purpose  of 
Christ.  Let  us,  as  Chtirchmen,  speak  the  truth 
in  love,  and  while  contending  earnestly  for  the 
faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  Saints,  culti- 
vate toward  all  our  Christian  brethren  such 
feelings  of  good  will  and  generous  confidence  as 
may  result  with  God's  blessing  in  the  unity  of 
spirit  and  the  bond  of  peace. 


XVIII 

THE   CHURCH   AND   SOCIAL   SERVICE 

TO-DAY  we  are  hearing  much  about  social 
service  in  its  relation  to  the  Church. 
There  has  also  sprung  up  within  recent  years 
a  political  party  called  Socialists,  which  has 
more  than  once  put  into  the  field  a  nomi- 
nee for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  at  least  suggestive  that  the  party  polled 
at  our  last  Presidential  election  901,725  votes, 
as  against  402,283  votes  four  years  before, 
showing  that  it  is  making  rapid  growth 
among  the  political  forces  to  be  reckoned  with 
in  the  near  futtire.  Moreover,  there  is  a  po- 
litical philosophy  called  socialism  more  or  less 
thoroughly  organized  in  this  coimtry  and  in 
Europe.  Certain  ideas  about  property  and 
government  and  religion  exploited  by  those 
who  call  themselves  socialists  have  been  some- 
what revolutionary  arid  radical.  Occasionally 
184 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

doctrines  have  been  propagated  under  the  gtdse 
of  socialism  which  have  not  only  been  alarming, 
but  cleariy  subversive  of  an  established  law  and 
order,  tending  toward  anarchy  and  religious  as 
well  as  political  chaos. 

It  is  quite  beyond  our  purpose  on  this  occa- 
sion to  state  in  detail  the  various  political  and 
social  platforms  and  theories  put  forth  by  the 
several  schools  in  advocacy  of  their  views. 
They  are  easily  accessible  to  all  who  desire  to 
examine  them.  It  is  sufficient  to  state  that 
some  of  the  opinions  expressed  imder  the  gen- 
eral term  of  socialism  have  been  so  extreme  and 
radical  as  to  discredit  the  word,  and  the  thing 
for  which  in  the  popular  mind  it  is  supposed  to 
stand.  But  the  abuse  and  the  exaggeration  of 
a  thing  should  not  be  allowed  to  prejudice  a 
fair-minded  man  against  whatever  truth  there 
may  be  in  the  idea  itself. 

There  is  a  true  socialism  in  which  every  in- 
telligent Christian  believes  when  he  xmderstands 
what  it  means.  There  is  also  an  opporttmity 
for  social  service  in  the  Christian  Church  so 
obvious  that  no  earnest  Christian  man  would 
knowingly  neglect  it.  It  is  about  this  that  we 
desire  now  to  give  expression  to  some  thoughts. 

185 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

In  the  Christian  sense  oiir  Lord  Himself  was  a 
pronounced  Socialist.  The  religion  which  He 
founded  is  essentially  a  social  religion.  Christ 
concerned  Himself  not  only  about  the  souls  of 
men,  but  about  their  bodies.  His  great  sum- 
mary of  duty,  which  He  laid  down  for  us,  was: 
**Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment, 
and  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these  two  com- 
mandments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets." 
Social  service  in  the  Church  might  be  defined 
as  the  application  of  the  spirit  and  teaching  of 
Christ  to  the  conditions  and  needs  of  our  fellow- 
man.  In  saying  that  our  Lord  was  a  SociaHst 
it  is  intended  simply  to  remind  us  that  He  was 
interested  in  all  human  life.  With  that  inter- 
pretation of  the  word  we  can  heartily  indorse 
the  epithet  as  applied  to  Him. 

Christ  was  not  content  simply  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  but  He  was  deeply  concerned  in  seeing 
that  men  were  fed  and  clothed  and  that  the 
conditions  of  life  were  tolerable.  Social  service 
means  that  the  Christian  man  has  a  direct  re- 
sponsibility as  to  the  physical  and  social  en- 
i86 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

vironment  of  his  brother-man.  It  means  that 
the  members  of  the  Church  should  not  confine 
their  activities  to  worship  and  to  preaching  of 
individual  righteousness  and  obedience  to  God, 
but  rather  they  should  prove  the  effect  and 
practical  benefit  of  worship  and  preaching  by- 
putting  forth  an  earnest  effort  to  secure  the 
recognition  and  enforcement  by  individuals  and 
society  of  good  physical  and  moral  standards 
of  living  for  all  men — ^f or  those  without  the  pale 
of  the  Church  as  well  as  those  within. 

Christian  social  service  means  that  it  is  not 
sufficient  for  the  Church  to  teach  abstract  prin- 
ciples of  righteousness,  leaving  each  member 
to  apply  them  as  may  seem  best  to  himself,  but 
that  it  should  point  the  way  to  definite  and  con- 
crete action  and  accomplishment  and  be  the 
leader  and  inspirer  in  the  development  of  a 
social  conscience  and  sense  of  responsibility. 

The  Church  has  always  realized  in  a  measure 
that  it  is  its  duty  to  take  care  of  the  physical  as 
well  as  the  spiritual  condition  of  its  individual 
poor,  and  it  has  endeavored,  more  or  less 
faithfully,  to  fulfil  this  duty.  During  the  last 
twenty-five  years  or  more  institutional  Churches 
have  been  established  among  us  which  have 

187 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

aimed  to  promote  a  wholesome  social  life,  es- 
pecially among  the  young,  and  to  provide 
means  of  physical  recreation  and  exercise  and 
amusements.  This  is  a  movement  in  the  right 
direction,  but  it  is  only  the  beginning.  The 
social  conscience  has  been  enormously  quick- 
ened within  recent  years,  and  the  Church  now 
takes  a  much  wider  and  more  sympathetic  out- 
look. It  now  assumes  definite  social  respon- 
sibilities, and  considers  its  duty  to  know  and 
understand  its  neighborhood,  and  how  the 
people  live,  and  to  inquire  into  the  sanitary 
conditions  of  the  streets  and  houses,  to  examine 
into  the  actual  conditions  of  living  and  learn 
what  they  are  and  what  may  be  done  to  im- 
prove them. 

It  is  now  freely  admitted  on  all  sides  that  in 
the  tremendous  and  rapid  expansion  of  our  in- 
dustrial life  the  Church  has  been  too  willing 
to  be  ignorant  of  unpleasant  things,  and  that  an 
easy-going  indifference,  if  not  insensibility  to 
the  troubles  and  needs  of  thousands  of  our 
fellow-men,  has  prevailed. 

It  is  now  clearly  dawning  upon  us  that  no 
Church  can  claim  at  all  to  have  done  its  duty 
or  fairly  met  its  responsibility  unless  it  is  alert 
i88 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

and  eager  to  seek  and  find  everything  that  is 
destructive  of  men's  physique  as  well  as  men's 
souls  that  may  lie  within  its  reach. 

It  is  no  longer  enough  that  a  Church  shall 
take  care  of  its  own  members  and  supply  them 
with  spiritual  food.  Its  fimction  is  to  inspire 
those  members  with  a  keen  interest  in  behalf  of 
the  weak  and  tempted  and  unprivileged  classes. 
Unless  it  is  willing  to  do  this  it  has  no  right  to 
call  itself  a  Church  and  think  it  is  listening  to 
the  call  of  its  great  Head.  In  other  words, 
social  service  calls  the  Church  in  the  name  and 
by  virtue  of  the  life  of  Christ  to  an  earnest  love 
for  human  beings  as  such,  whether  they  are 
connected  with  the  Church  or  not. 

It  has  been  feared  by  some  that  all  this  ac- 
tivity in  the  welfare  of  our  brother-man,  which 
we  call  social  service,  will  interfere  with  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel;  that  such  a  program 
for  the  Church  shows  too  much  care  and 
thought  for  the  worldly  welfare  of  men;  that 
in  working  for  their  material  betterment  the 
Church  will  lose  its  spiritual  vision  and  will 
gradually  lessen  its  dependence  on  God  and 
become  a  mere  social  agency.  There  can  be  no 
better  answer  to  this  than  to  point  to  the 
189 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

teaching  of  the  great  Prophets  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament from  Moses  to  Malachi  and,  above 
all,  to  the  words  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles. 
Indeed,  in  that  great  and  memorable  picture 
of  the  Day  of  Judgment  which  Christ  paints 
for  our  warning  in  St.  Matthew  He  makes 
obedience  to  the  law  of  social  service  the  sole 
condition  of  inheriting  the  Kingdom.  Those 
alone  are  to  receive  His  blessing  and  be  set  on 
His  right  hand  who  have  fed  the  hungry,  given 
drink  to  the  thirsty,  shown  hospitality  to  the 
stranger,  clothed  the  naked,  visited  the  sick  and 
those  in  prison.  It  is  remarkable  that  our 
Lord  does  not  propound  any  test  of  orthodoxy 
or  theological  soundness  to  the  assembled  mul- 
titude before  Him.  He  seems  to  make  every- 
thing hinge  on  their  conduct  toward  their 
fellow-man. 

Thus  does  He  lay  solemn  emphasis  on  the 
Gospel  of  Brotherhood  as  an  essential  part  of 
that  righteousness  of  which  His  whole  life  is  a 
proclamation. 

How  can  a  Church  claim  to  be  God*s  Chtu-ch 

if  thus,  in  obedience  to  Christ's  teaching,  it 

fails  to  seek  erirnestly  for  the  weaker  members 

of  society  and  to  stand  boldly  in  their  behalf  for 

I  go 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

proper  standards  of  education  and  living?  How 
can  it  retain  its  self-respect  if  it  makes  no  pro- 
test against  the  overworking  of  young  children 
and  women,  the  crowding  of  people  into  nar- 
row and  filthy  and  unsanitary  quarters,  against 
the  payment  of  such  low  wages  as  make  normal 
family  life  simply  impossible  to  employees.  In- 
difference and  insensibility  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  to  such  wrongs  cannot  escape  the  con- 
demnation of  the  law  of  Christ.  These  are  but 
a  few  illustrations  of  the  many  directions  in 
which  the  Church's  sympathy  ought  to  be 
enlisted  to-day. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Gospel  of  spirit- 
ual salvation  and  the  Gospel  of  social  service 
are  not  distinct  and  separate,  but  different  mani- 
festations of  one  and  the  same  Gospel. 

No  man  can  read  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
with  an  open  mind  and  then  dare  to  say  that 
the  Church  has  fulfilled  its  whole  function  when 
it  has  taught  and  listened  to  doctrinal  and  moral 
teaching.  The  preaching  of  a  sotmd  and  Scrip- 
tiu-al  theology  is  fundamental  and  vital  to  re- 
ligion; but  the  theology  is  empty  and  dead,  and 
is  neither  Scriptural  nor  sound,  that  does  not 
inspire  men  to  a  righteous  activity  in  behalf  of 
191 


A    BISHOP    AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

their  brother-man.  All  the  greatest  religious 
teachers  of  the  past  have  taught  the  doctrine 
that  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  man  are 
alike  parts  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  and  that 
through  the  love  of  man  through  every  day 
and  practical  service  for  the  weak  and  unfortu- 
nate and  erring  is  the  surest  and  quickest  entry 
into  sympathy  with  God. 

Social  service  is  the  practical,  inevitable, 
necessary  consequence  and  complement  of  true 
spiritual  belief.  They  are  mutually  essential 
and  mutually  dependent. 

Unless  the  Church  is  loyal  to  its  Master's  call 
for  help  to  the  oppressed  and  downtrodden, 
from  whatever  cause,  it  will  lose,  and  deserve 
to  lose,  its  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  common 
people.  On  the  other  hand,  the  power  of  the 
Church  to  teach  the  law  of  fair  dealing  and 
righteousness  is  greater  than  any  other  power 
on  earth.  Spiritual  power  is  the  only  power 
that  can  save  us  from  the  domination  of  heart- 
less greed  and  wickedness  and  degeneration, 
the  only  power  that  will  cleanse  and  purify  the 
world  from  the  tyranny  of  selfishness  and  bring 
peace  and  good  will  between  individuals,  classes, 
and  nations. 

Z93 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

Here  is  a  field  where  all  Churches  can  agree 
about  many  of  the  problems  of  social  righteous- 
ness and  the  methods  of  dealing  with  them. 
All  can  agree  to  study  together  more  thoroughly 
the  facts  and  philosophy  of  other  complicated 
problems  which  are  difficult  to  solve.  Practical 
social  service  affords  a  common  platform  for 
action  on  which  all  may  stand  together  as 
nothing  else  does.  Working  together  for  hu- 
man betterment  means  fuller  mutual  under- 
standing and  appreciation  and  deeper  sym- 
pathy, which  may  lead  us  all  to  see  with  clearer 
vision  what  are  the  real  and  eternal  truths  of 
religion,  and  thus  bring  us  to  that  unity  of 
spiritual  life  for  which  we  devoutly  pray.  Let 
us  be  awake  and  doing  with  saneness,  patience, 
boldness,  and  love. 

13 


XIX 

THE   church's   world-wide   MISSION 

THE  Chiirch  has  a  mission  in  the  world,  and 
that  mission  is  that  the  Kingdom  of  God 
should  spread  and  grow  imtil  all  men  every- 
where have  heard  the  glad  tidings  of  God's 
love. 

When  the  divine  Founder  of  the  Church  com- 
missioned His  twelve  Apostles,  it  was  in  these 
words,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature."  From  that  time 
henceforth  the  great  enterprise  of  business,  or 
mission  of  Christianity,  has  been  to  make 
disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  In  obedience  to  their  Master*s 
command.  His  Apostles  went  forth  preaching 
everywhere  in  the  then  known  world.  At  that 
time  there  were  no  railroads  or  steamboats, 
nor  telegraphs  or  telephones,  and  the  Apostles 
194 


A   BISHOP  AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

for  the  most  part  were  poor,  iinlettered  fisher- 
men. But,  notwithstanding  their  poverty  and 
the  added  difficulty  that  came  from  bitter  per- 
secution, they  met  with  marvelous  success.  In 
the  words  of  a  Church  historian,  even  during 
their  lifetime  they  all  but  turned  the  world 
upside  down.  It  is  true  that  nearly  all  of  them 
suffered  martyrdom  for  their  faith  and  courage, 
even  as  their  Master  had  before  them.  But 
their  efforts  were  not  in  vain.  They  left  be- 
hind them  a  great  company  of  believers  imbued 
with  their  enthusiasm  and  filled  with  an  ardent 
and  passionate  love  for  Christ. 

It  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  original 
marching  orders  which  Christ  gave  to  his 
Apostles  that  the  possession  of  the  missionary 
idea  has  always  been  considered  as  a  test  of  the 
genuineness  of  a  Christian  man's  conversion. 
Our  Lord  declared  that  **Not  every  one  who 
saith  imto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the 
will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven."  To 
obey  the  will  of  the  Master  is  the  proof  of 
our  love  and  loyalty  to  the  Master.  **If  ye 
love  me,"  he  said,  *'ye  will  keep  my  com- 
mandments." No  one,  we  are  sure,  in  this 
195 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

day  of  the  world*s  progress  can  deny  that  in 
the  very  forefront  of  His  most  imperative  com- 
mands is  the  duty  of  passing  on  to  our  brother 
who  has  not  heard  it  the  good  news  of  salvation; 
of  communicating  to  him  who  has  need  of  the 
word  of  life.  Indeed,  so  vital  is  this  missionary 
principle  in  the  economy  of  the  Christian  life 
that  if  a  man  does  not  exercise  thus  his  faith 
and  love,  if  he  fails  to  let  his  light  shine,  and 
to  impart  his  blessing  to  his  brother-man,  and 
share  it  with  him,  then  whatever  faith  and  love 
he  has  will  wither  away  and  die.  The  only  way 
by  which  any  man  can  keep  his  Christianity  is 
to  give  it  away.  Paradoxical  as  this  may  seem, 
it  is  the  law  of  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  also 
true  that  the  more  you  give  away  of  your  faith 
and  love,  so  much  the  more — a  great  deal — will 
you  have  left.  There  is  that  which  scattereth 
and  yet  increaseth.  The  love  of  God  in  a  man's 
heart  is  like  a  mother's  love.  It  grows  as  it  is 
lavished  and  spent  upon  a  worthy  object.  We 
cannot  conceive  of  a  mother's  love  as  ever  be- 
coming exhausted.  So,  if  we  would  have  otir 
Christian  faith  a  strong  and  vital  and  cleansing 
power  in  our  own  lives,  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary that,  without  ceasing,  we  keep  pouring  it 
196 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

forth,  communicating,  imparting  it  to  others. 
Christianity  is  like  the  spring  on  the  hillside, 
that  sends  forth  its  bubbling,  gushing  stream 
of  life,  giving  refreshment  to  all  the  dry  land 
below.  Let  that  spring  be  dammed  up,  let  it 
cease  to  flow  and  give  out  its  cleansing  and 
purifying  current,  and  what  will  happen?  In- 
evitably it  will  then  become  a  stagnant  pool, 
a  morass,  which  will  breed  miasma,  disease, 
and  death.  So  it  is  that  the  infallible  mark  of 
a  living  or  dying  Christian,  of  a  living  or  dying 
parish,  of  a  living  or  dying  Church,  is  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  the  missionary  spirit.  Read 
Church  history  and  you  shall  find  that  all  those 
periods  of  the  Church's  career  when  she  has 
been  pure  in  morals,  loyal  in  doctrine,  and  vigor- 
ous in  her  life  at  home  have  been  the  years 
when  her  missionary  triumphs  have  been  great- 
est. Conversely,  whenever  the  Church  has  for- 
gotten the  chief  business  for  which  our  Lord  has 
established  her,  that  of  helping  men,  and  has 
ceased  to  be  a  missionary  Church,  the  nemesis 
of  eternal  discord,  vice  and  immorality,  has 
been  her  lot. 

The  eighteenth  century  in  our  Mother  Church 
of  England  and  throughout  the  world  was  a 

197 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

period  of  wide-spread  indifference  to  our  Lord's 
command  to  evangelize  the  world.  It  was  also 
a  period  when  faith  seemed  to  be  decaying,  and 
the  forces  of  sin  and  evil  threatened  the  very  Hfe 
of  the  nation  and  the  citadel  of  the  Church.  It 
was  during  the  latter  part  of  that  dark  century 
that  Charles  and  John  Wesley  and  George 
Whitfield,  in  our  Mother  Church  of  England, 
did  so  much  to  arouse  the  sleeping  energies 
of  the  nation  and  to  infuse  light  and  hope  into 
the  surrounding  gloom. 

We  are  now  living  at  a  time  when  the  mis- 
sionary appeal  and  the  missionary  opportimity 
and  the  missionary  results  all  combine  to  fill 
our  hearts  with  hope  and  inspire  us  to  renewed 
efforts  for  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ. 

There  was  a  period  almost  within  the  memory 
of  men  now  living  when  the  great  unchristian- 
ized  fields  of  China  and  Japan,  of  India,  Africa, 
and  the  islands  of  the  sea,  seemed  to  belong 
to  a  different  world  and  to  be  beyond  our 
reach.  When  Robert  Carey,  for  instance,  hav- 
ing caught  a  vision  of  the  darkness  of  the 
heathen  world,  his  heart  afire  with  missionary 
zeal,  set  out  to  far-off  China,  what  a  forlorn  hope 
was  his!  How  different  the  face  of  the  entire 
198 


A   BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

world  to-day!  By  virtue  of  the  progress  of 
modem  science  the  entire  human  family  has 
been  brought  to  our  very  doors.  The  shuttles 
of  trade  and  commerce,  through  the  aid  of  a 
great  network  of  steamships,  are  plying  the 
once  impassable  waters  of  the  deep  and  knitting 
together  into  a  perfect  web  of  international  re- 
lationship all  the  nations  of  the  world.  With 
international  commerce  there  has  come  inter- 
national comity  and  good  will  and  mutual 
international  dependence.  Now  when  one  na- 
tion suffers  they  all  suffer.  A  sudden  drop  in 
the  money  market  of  Tokio  to-morrow  would 
create  a  flurry  and  be  felt  at  once  in  Wall  Street. 
A  failure  of  the  cotton  crop  in  the  Southern 
states  of  America  would  be  felt  not  only  in  Eng- 
land and  Germany  and  France,  but  in  some  of 
its  ramifications  through  all  the  civilized  world. 
The  breaking  out  of  the  cholera  or  yellow 
plague  in  China,  which  not  long  ago  we  could 
have  contemplated  with  comparative  indiffer- 
ence, is  no  longer  attended  with  impimity  to  our- 
selves, but  becomes  a  serious  national  menace. 
The  question  now  is  not,  Shall  we  have  contact 
with  all  other  nations?  The  contact  has  al- 
ready begim.     Nay,  it  is  far  advanced,  and  is 

199 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

destined  inevitably  to  become  more  and  more 
wide-spread  and  intimate.  We  cannot  now 
avoid  the  contact  if  we  would,  and  we  should 
not  try  to  avoid  it.  We  should  welcome  it  as  a 
great  opportimity  for  our  Christian  nation. 
We  should  see  in  this  wonderful  modem  miracle 
of  international  communication  the  very  hand 
of  God  opening  to  us  the  door  of  opportunity  so 
long  closed.  We  should  hear  His  voice  inviting 
us  to  enter  in  and  share  with  the  nations  the 
blessings  with  which  He  has  intrusted  us.  If 
we  fail  to  do  this,  then  the  moral  plagues  and 
leprosies  of  the  nations  who  know  not  God  will 
spread  among  us  even  more  rapidly  than  any 
physical  contagion.  If  we  do  not  carry  to  the 
unchristian  peoples  of  the  world,  with  their 
teeming  millions,  our  higher  standards  of 
morality,  our  Christian  principles  of  personal 
and  social  purity,  our  Christian  ideas  of  mar- 
riage, of  the  family,  and  of  the  home,  then  they 
will  impart  to  us  their  code  of  living,  with  its 
moral  degradation,  its  slavery  of  woman,  its 
prostitution  of  virtue,  and  the  low  ethical  con- 
ceptions which  prevail  among  themselves. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  appeal  for  mis- 
sions was  based  entirely  on  our  love  to  God  and 
200 


A    BISHOP   AMONG    HIS    FLOCK 

our  fellow-men  and  obedience  to  His  command. 
Now,  through  the  providence  of  God,  control- 
ling the  advance  and  progress  of  human  events, 
the  argtiment  is  shifted,  the  ground  is  changed. 
The  appeal  for  the  enterprise  and  business  of 
Christian  missions  has  now  become  an  appeal 
for  self-preservation;  an  appeal  for  our  country 
and  its  flag,  an  appeal  for  our  homes ;  an  appeal 
for  the  perpetuity  of  our  Christian  civilization, 
for  the  freedom  of  our  American  institutions. 
The  old  argument  still  holds  good.  We  do  not 
ignore  or  forget  the  command  of  Christ;  we 
do  not  abate  aught  of  our  love  for  our  perishing 
brother;  but  that  argument  has  been  enormously 
reinforced  when  we  see  how  it  falls  in  line  with 
our  own  dearest  and  most  personal  interests  and 
welfare.  As  Mr.  Cleveland,  speaking  of  a  cer- 
tain political  situation,  once  said,  *'We  are  con- 
fronted, not  with  a  theory,  but  with  a  condi- 
tion." We  are  faced  with  a  problem  in  which 
our  American  civilization  and  most  cherished 
institutions  depend  on  the  manner  in  which  we 
meet  the  missionary  appeal.  It  has  come  to 
this:  to  save  ourselves  we  must  save  our 
brothers  at  home  and  abroad.  The  stranger 
from  across  the  sea  is  already  here  in  our  very 

20I 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

midst  with  his  Oriental  habits  and  his  Oriental 
standards.  We  may  count  him  by  the  thou- 
sands. Abroad,  in  China,  India,  Japan,  and 
Africa,  he  numbers  millions,  and  in  his  un- 
conscious and  pathetic  blindness,  in  his  sore 
need,  he  is  calling  to  us  to  come  over  and  help 
him. 

The  door  is  now  wide  open.  Truly  the  field 
is  now  white  for  the  harvest.  All  that  is  now 
wanting  is  for  the  disciples  of  Christ  everywhere 
to  co-operate  with  His  grace  as  manifested  in 
breaking  down  all  obstacles  and  preparing  the 
way.  It  does  not  seem  a  Utopian  dream,  but 
a  well-grounded  hope,  that  before  this  twentieth 
century  shall  have  ended  all  of  the  children  of 
God  scattered  throughout  the  world  shall  have 
heard  the  story  of  God's  great  love  in  sending 
forth  His  Son. 

That  new  republic  about  to  be  bom  in  China 
has  actually  asked  the  prayers  of  all  Christian 
nations  that  the  blessings  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity may  attend  their  experiment  of  free 
government.  If  only  the  unhappy  divisions  by 
which  the  Christian  forces  are  now  so  hindered 
in  their  missionary  progress  could  be  healed, 
who  can  doubt  that  the  world  ere  many  dec- 

202 


A    BISHOP   AMONG   HIS    FLOCK 

ades  shall  have  passed  would  believe  that  God 
has  sent  His  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the 
world? 

Meanwhile  let  us  rejoice  in  what  has  already 
been  accomplished,  and  pray  that  every  mem- 
ber in  Christ's  Church,  in  his  vocation  and 
ministry,  may  serve  Him  faithfully. 


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